Hey Governor, Behave! Or I'll "DIBIZLARAM" You!

Dear Readers:

The assassination of Ismail Haniye, head of Hamas's Political Bureau, who was in Tehran to attend the inauguration of Masoud Pezeshkian, the newly elected president of Iran, on July 31, deeply shook the balances in the Middle East. I commemorate Ismail Haniye with mercy.

Just as I was about to write an article about the Middle East and a potential Third World War, I was genuinely surprised to hear, read, and see that the real "World War" had broken out in my ancestral lands where I was born and raised, namely Iğdır.

Actually, I wasn't too surprised. For some time, the Civil Administration and Political Will had been preparing for the "Iğdır War" hand in hand, but this early outbreak of the "war" caught my attention enough to make me involuntarily say to myself, "Mujahid, forget the Third World War."

We already knew that for some time we have been facing a special approach and a racist understanding that, with particular effort and zeal, tries to implant "Kurdish animosity" in our beloved Iğdır, and is even determined to wave this "honorable" flag on the summit of Mount Ararat.

When our Deputy declared that Kurds are "Qonaxtırlar (guests)," we chose to remain silent, accepting it as a slip of the tongue. When the same Deputy, on the eve of the holy month of Muharram, this time likened Sunni Kurds to Yazid, who murdered Imam Hussein, we understood that he had used the word "Qonaq" consciously.

A comprehensible explanation of the word "Qonaq" is as follows: "Iğdır province is Azerbaijani territory. It is the homeland of Azerbaijani Turks. Kurds are guests here. Since they are guests, they will leave tomorrow, and Iğdır province will be honored as Azerbaijani territory."

While a parliamentary inquiry should be launched against this Deputy, who engages in ethnic and chauvinistic racism by saying "Qonaq" and sectarian animosity by saying "Yazid," openly engaging in two-dimensional provocation in our sensitive Iğdır, we see that the gentleman is being blessed, adorned, and marketed. What can I say! May it be auspicious for his owners!

***

The head of the Civil Administration is also restless. He continues to make mistake after mistake:

Before the local elections on March 31, 2024, the esteemed Governor, who was acting as the appointed Mayor, the esteemed Deputy, and the AK Party Provincial Chairman put their heads together and made a plan. They prepared a list of friends and relatives. They hired hundreds of young people overnight, even though there was no need.

I had expressed that this was a flawed approach in my article dated November 24, 2023, titled "INDEPENDENT KURDISH LANGUAGES / THE RISE OF RACISM IN IĞDIR":

"Today, Iğdır is experiencing a situation similar to the 1950s. Again, the Turkist-Turanist-and anti-Kurdish Azerbaijani Lobby is at work with its money, partisanship, and social media network... With the support it receives from the civil administration, it is in a race to conquer all strongholds...

Overnight, by hocus pocus, by fait accompli, by playing with the hopes and honor of Iğdır's youth, three or four racist minds put their heads together and prepare a list of 260 people, who are then hired at the Municipality. While Yaşar Akkuş, elected Mayor by the will of the people, spends his life in Erzurum prison, those who took over as appointed administrators are racing against time to turn the power in their hands into "booty" with an understanding no different from vultures.

What can we say! Enjoy, ladies and gentlemen! But don't get too excited: These days will surely come and go; the wheel of fortune will turn one day."

I had warned my fellow citizens who are protesting in front of the Municipality today with my article from November 2023. I could foresee such an outcome, but couldn't the appointed Governor, the Deputy, and their supporters foresee it?

This partisan approach, which played with the hopes and honor of young people by hiring them overnight, had multiple objectives:

(1) To expand the vote potential by hiring before the elections, ensuring the AK Party candidate wins the election;

(2) If by chance an opposing party (DEM Party) wins the election, it would have to terminate the employment of these young people, causing an uproar in Iğdır, thus allowing them to be reappointed as administrators amidst this chaos;

(3) If their own candidate won the election, these young people, who had no job description, would be kept in their jobs for a while as a "reward," and then their employment would be gradually terminated with a convincing excuse.

The appointed Governor, who acted with the ambition to win the mayoralty for a candidate at all costs, and was therefore an active part of the election propaganda, condoned the transportation of approximately 7-8 thousand members of our honorable army and security forces, who do not reside in Iğdır but were somehow forced to vote with temporary residency, to the ballot box, thereby openly striking a blow against the fundamental principle of democracy, "free elections," before the eyes of the people of Iğdır. Approximately 20,000 voters, disturbed by this situation, did not go to the polls to protest this interference with their will and, in a sense, this grave situation in their city.

The appointed Governor in Iğdır was not the only one hiring for the Municipality before the elections. The appointed Governor in Van followed the same path. The Mayors of Iğdır and Van, who won the elections, had to unilaterally terminate the employment contracts of those hired overnight, considering the budget reality. Currently, protests by dismissed citizens continue in front of both Iğdır Municipality and Van Municipality.

The appointed Governor is turning the election defeat into revenge. State institutions are coming one by one to support the protesters. While the state's security forces in Van and Diyarbakır cannot tolerate the innocent Kurmanji phrase "Pêşî Peya (Priority to Pedestrians)" written on the roads and immediately intervene, they remain silent in Iğdır, taking sides. The Mayors of Karakoyunlu and Aralık support the protesters. When the newly elected Mayor of Melekli showed the door to those hired by the previous Mayor for election investment purposes, i.e., terminated their employment, the Mayors of Karakoyunlu and Aralık did not support the dismissed; because the Mayor of Melekli is an Azerbaijani. As if this were not enough, our religious leaders, who should act with values of peace, brotherhood, and humanity, visit the protesters and incite sectarianism. Behind all these actions is a dual orchestra conductor: the esteemed Governor and the esteemed Deputy.

***

One target of the chauvinistic understanding led by our esteemed Governor is Iğdır University.

We are witnessing a smear campaign launched against our Rector, especially on social media, by serving false information through "fake" accounts. As we understand from Dr. Mehmet Kum's social media post, our Rector supposedly helps the KURDISH Municipality by giving university vehicles and trucks to Iğdır Municipality, serving their garbage collection. We know from the documents in our possession that the facts are not so. The aim is to portray every Kurd as a PKK member. A cheap understanding, a cheap politics!

***

And then we see that during the days when Journalists' Day is celebrated, Mr. Murat Akkuş, the owner of Doğuş Newspaper, one of Iğdır's oldest newspapers, is forced to give a statement by "unknown hands," which are known to us, and is subjected to psychological pressure. The evil forces acting together try to "Judaize" his lawyer, Mr. Yusuf Arslan, by writing "Joseph" instead of "Yusuf" to attack him.

***

CENGİZ EKİNCİ

All these events reminded me of an incident that took place in Kars in the early 1950s. The new generation probably doesn't know the name of the late Cengiz Ekinci. If you allow me, I would like to introduce Cengiz Ekinci, an Azerbaijani from Kars, first:

Born in 1919, Cengiz Ekinci connects his birth to a historical event and explains: "Immediately after I was born, when I was just 40 days old, my family left Gyumri during the war with the Armenians and set off for Kars."

Cengiz Ekinci

When Cengiz Ekinci graduated from Ankara Law Faculty, he learned that there were no lawyers in Iğdır, and this work was carried out by legal representatives. Without hesitation, he set off for Iğdır (1950). While practicing law, Cengiz Ekinci also published "IĞDIR," Iğdır's first newspaper (September 28, 1950) (Note: Mecit Hun became acquainted with journalism through Cengiz Ekinci).

In 1951, Cengiz Ekinci returned to Kars with his family, did not practice law but continued journalism. In 1965, Cengiz Ekinci was elected Kars Deputy from the New Turkey Party. Later, Cengiz Ekinci joined the Justice Party and was re-elected from Ordu as a quota candidate in the 1969 elections at the request of Süleyman Demirel.

Cengiz Ekinci was, above all, a versatile man of culture, a successful journalist, and a master of satire. Throughout his life, Cengiz Ekinci, who was deeply involved in politics, was uncompromising in his principles, a fighter, and a lover of democracy. He was also tolerant enough to tolerate those who could not tolerate his satires.

The people of the Caucasus love humor. They bring even the most serious polemics to the arena of humor with a stinging mastery, adorning them with local words and idioms. Once they reach the right flavor, these idioms and sentences eventually spread by word of mouth and become public property.

One day, Cengiz Ekinci, in a harsh polemical environment caused by a political conflict, not only shattered the resistance of the then Kars Governor Nevruz (Navrız) by inventing the phrase "yoksa dıbızlarım ha!" (or I'll "dibizlaram" you!), but also immortalized a beauty of humor that has remained in hearts to this day.

I dedicate Cengiz Ekinci's poem, written in 1952, to those who are currently dragging Iğdır into chaos, unrest, and civil war:

I'LL "DIBIZLARAM"!

                           Written by: Cengiz Ekinci

Once you were nourished in the chair of those who gave you fodder

Once you cried out in the alleys like an owl

Once you barked at your dear friend of today

Once you entered the lion's skin like a fox

Now bray every moment, and quickly make your ears double

I'll press down on the vast mountains, I'll stroke your ear

In short, my child Narvız, I'll buzz the buzz of your Narvız

Narvız, I swear to God, I'll "dibizlaram" you by your tail

***

This is also Cengiz's mischief,

He snickers under his mustache.

The "gozmels" he "dibizlaram"ed,

Are grumbling against him.

Among the gang of scoundrels,

Who are the disgrace of the era.

There is one who is utterly enraged,

And keeps blustering until morning.

NOTE: Our anti-Kurdish and pro-Azerbaijani administrators will probably have no difficulty understanding the words.