Erdoğan’s address to the other half

Neither the balcony speech of 2007 nor 2010... Nor the speech given after the presidential election, which sounded unplanned... It was the other day, when I heard a straight remark coming from President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for the first time.  

He is calling out to us... To us who have been living in a sense of defeat for the past 13 years, who have been scared of losing our lifestyle, who are worried, who are angry...

He is clearly saying: “Yes brother, I know what you’ve been through. I understand your lifestyle, your values. I know your requests and desires.”

Way to go. This is the first time he has said it so openly.

After that he said: â€œBut you, you should understand us too. Understand what difficulties we’ve been through to come to this point, understand the restrictions, the threats we’ve overcome to reach this day.”
  
Way to go, for the first time, he is looking in our eyes and treating us like a fellow human being while saying these words.

This is what being straightforward is. I can understand what he is talking about.

Not only do I understand, I also find it correct; I say, “You are right.” This is how we must speak. In all sincerity, from the heart.

Let me start before anyone else. When I look at the past, to my past and to my neighborhood’s past, I can see with more clarity the misery of the girls who weren’t let into schools because of their headscarves.

Now, I understand with greater clarity the struggle of the women who couldn’t work against their will. I realize much better the roughness witnessed during the cases to close parties.

I can better understand why some people felt, were made to...