Speaking legally, what Bono has just done in Istanbul was not pro bono.
The Irish singer was here for U2's first Istanbul gig. Unsurprisingly, he made some political contacts.
Following their meeting, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan is using Bono as a political asset on the eve of the constitutional referendum. Erdogan has narrated their chat with the following words:
"I told Bono that I was imprisoned because of a poem that I recited in a political rally. He reacted with a laughter."
Well, Erdogan didn't reiterate the verses, probably because he didn't want to interrupt Bono's laughter. Let me remind you those verses: "The mosques are our barracks, the domes our helmets, the minarets our bayonets and the faithful our soldiers."
I'm sure Bono is not a hypocrite. If he gets along well with Erdogan, then he also does with -for instance- Abu Hamza al-Masri at home. After all, their discourses are similar.
The most controversial part of Bono's visit was not his meeting with Erdogan, though. It was what happened in the concert and afterwards.
When Bono thanked Egemen Bagis, a minister from AKP , 40.000 fans in the Olympic Stadium booed. "Okay, okay! I won't mention politicians," Bono quickly backpedaled. Then he invited a Turkish musician, Zulfu Livaneli, up to the stage. Livaneli sang his masterpiece, Leylim Ley, in tune with tens of thousands of people. According to Livaneli, who is also a member of the main opposition party (CHP), Bono told him that he knew this song and he'd never seen such an atmosphere in a concert before.
Did Bono realize that the crowd are mostly anti-AKP people, so he cleverly counter-balanced the scene with a CHP-minded artist? I don't know, but it anyway seemed to me that Bono is quite a pragmatic man, not an idealist like his public image presents himself.
The more annoying part is Erdogan's statement about the booing crowd. He said the following words during a live TV interview:
"Bono thanked Egemen Bagis and those young men booed. How can you explain this mentality? A minister has managed to bring an important band to Turkey and you boo him in front of the band members. You may not like the party of that minister, but you can't boo him there. You don't have such a right."
I get used to such anti-democratic, autocratic remarks by Erdogan, so I'm not going to criticize these words. I'd like to point out some other fact:
Turkey has beaten Slovenia in the World Basketball Championship quarterfinals last night. When President Abdullah Gul entered the court, almost 15.000 Turkish fans booed him. So Bagis, as an AKP man, is not an exception.
When you watch these scenes, you really get curious. The members of AKP are being booed and jeered everywhere, but their party keeps getting almost half of the votes in Turkey's elections.
The allegations about widespread election rigging get supported with these scenes, even though we should still keep in mind that Turkey is not Istanbul. The greater hinterland of the country, mainly Central Anatolia, is probably still the quite voting machine of AKP.
The problem about Turkey's democracy lies just here. The conscious, urban classes are dwarfed by the political sheep of the county.
Personally, I will be in Vienna on Sunday and I will vote in the airport.
A "yes" can create a Dictatorship of the Sheep in Turkey.
A "no" can only delay it.
The paradox can force anyone to behave pragmatically, instead of keeping up with idealism.
Bono is such a man.
I am not.
