We, as Turks, sit too much and that's a problem.
In Turkey, the government charged 30 billion dollars of additional tax from the public since 1999. It was a temporary measure to rebuild the east Marmara region following a catastrophic earthquake then. The government still collects this tax and nobody reacts. Imagine what could happen in the United States in similar conditions...
Or take France: Millions of people march to stop Sarkozy administration which tries to reform the social security system in an unpopular way. In Turkey, we had far worse laws ratified without confronting any protest marches.
From the United Kingdom to Germany, privatization decisions of governments are always countered with massive protests. But the AKP government has sold the public telecom to Lebanese investors for a price which is just four times greater than the annual revenue of the same company and the Turkish streets were still calm. Imagine what could happen in any other country after the sale of such a strategic public asset to a foreign firm with this bargain price.
"The March of the Republic" was just an unbelievable exception in this sense. On the other hand, it doesn't change the fact that this nation likes to sit and watch, instead of act and react.
Osman Hamdi Bey, the Ottoman antidote of Orientalism, was probably the first Turkish intellectual who observed aforesaid shortcoming of our culture:
"We are a sitting nation. Take our daily conversations. If somebody asks about our father, we say that he's well, sitting at home. In Turkish, you should say, "we sit in x neighborhood," to tell where you reside. When they ask you where you are going, you say that you're going to Ahmet Bey's house to sit. During holidays, we always like to sit at home. The teacher says that his students should sit and behave."
Maybe we need a civil rights movement, not for women or a minority, but for the majority to learn that standing up, protesting the government and marching for a better democracy is the start of journey to be civil. Otherwise, the culture of sitting and being obedient will remain as an abusing tool of today's anti-democratic mindset of the neo-liberal, Islamist ruling class.
A painting by Osman Hamdi: An Ottoman man, sitting on an ottoman...
