By ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ (GREEK) TÜRKÇE (TURKISH)
I came home!
Poured an extra double whiskey!
The cheap kind!
A brand I could afford!
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Threw some ice cubes into the glass…
Waited for it to chill…
I slowly sipped it down…
Then got on my bike…
Completed my 12-kilometer route, and in the evening, I will be a guest on the main news on Sim TV!
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I’m writing this article after enjoying my 50-minute bike ride…
Am I feeling good?
Yes!
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Now let’s get to the point…
As you know, Tayyip Erdoğan arrived in TRNC…
A press conference was scheduled for 2:30 pm, and I wanted to listen to Erdoğan for the first time at our President’s place, the Silihtar Palace…[Translator’s note: Quirini bastion where the building now sits used to be called the Silihtar or armory during Ottoman times]
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I completed my accreditation in advance…
I also sent my press card…
I wasn’t informed about anything…
I went, taking with me my ID and press card…
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On the way to the meeting, I chatted with two of my colleagues; I told them, “I’m going to the press conference”; my friend replied, “They won’t let you in” and he laughed…
I said, “Why wouldn’t they? Are they crazy?”…
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But I had a similar feeling myself!
I was full of excitement like a child!
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I reached the gate!
There were a group of 40-50 Turkish nationals at the gate chanting “Recep Tayyip Erdoğan”…
One of those waiting in line to enter was our very own mufti in official robes!
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I showed my press card, and they opened the gate, directing me to the security booth…
I went through the X-ray machine…
There were two female police officers in the room…
I addressed one of them as “sister-in-law”…
Her husband is my friend…
In fact, the shirt I was wearing was her husband’s old shirt…
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She said, “Please give Brother Serhat a press card to wear around his neck.”
I put it on and stepped into the garden…
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We chatted with colleagues for about 30-35 minutes…
We joked around!
I had this sense of unease within me…
I teased the friends who spoke to me, “Don’t talk with me, they’ll fire you”…
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The place was crawling with police officers…
There were some with whom I had done my military service; those who were even as close as my relatives…
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I walked towards the area where the press conference was to be held…
As I was chatting with Meltem Sonay, the Editor-in-Chief of Yenidüzen Newspaper, and Canan Onurer, the Editor-in-Chief of Kıbrıs Postası, the female police officer who had given me the ID card came up to me…
Very politely, she said, “Mr. Aydın Akkurt asked, ‘Who let this man in?’…
We told him, ‘We did.’ Aydın Bey told us that it was forbidden for you to be here. We didn’t know. I will kindly ask you to leave”…
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Of course!
I didn’t object at all!
Should I fight with the police?
Should I create a scene by yelling and shouting?
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I walked towards the gate!
Silently!
There were 6-7 police officers at the gate…
As I said, there were some I served in the military with, people I knew…
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I took off the ID I wore around my neck and returned it…
One of them opened the gate, and one of them said, “Thank you, Serhat abi [brother]!”
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Never in my life had a thank you made me so emotional!
Can a 55-year-old, 120kg, 1.90m tall giant man cry?
Even if it was in silence, I really did cry!
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But not because they told me to leave or they kicked me out…
The thank you of the police as I exited made me cry…
I was deeply touched…
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Mine were actually tears of joy…
The happiness that I was on the right path!
They were also a little of the bitterness I felt!
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Each of our friends who were denied entry into Turkey passed before my eyes…
I was not allowed entry into the presidential palace in my own country, which was the public’s property, where I attended dozens of press conferences, interviews, and meetings over the years…
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The person who wanted me to be kicked out was Aydın Akkurt… But later I learned that the press advisor of the Turkish Embassy, whom I do not know, went up to Aydın Bey, and had a go at him, asking him, “Why did you let this guy in?”
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Our police officers are sad!
Aydın Akkurt is pathetic!
Ersin Tatar is a loser!
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So, they claim to have a sovereign and equal state!
How ironic!
You are nothing more than a fake farce!
A discourteous, indifferent, irrelevant, false, and disgusting fake farce!
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I have seen and lived through it all!
I am both a citizen of the Republic of Cyprus and the United Kingdom!
I have no need for this fake state!
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They can kick me out not only from the palace or the universities but also from the land they keep under their occupation…
In fact, let alone kicking me out; they can even kill me because I don’t share their views…
But I will speak boldly; they cannot kill the love I have for Cyprus, nor can they ask me to split that love in two!
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Was this some form of punishment they gave me?
Have they punished me?
As I said, they are pitiful and pathetic!
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In the meantime, if I was told “I was allowed to ask [a question]” what would I ask Erdoğan?
If given the opportunity, my first question would be, “Mr President, the Republic of Turkey is an indivisible whole; well then can the Republic of Cyprus be divided? If so, would this division pose a problematic precedent for Turkey?”…
My second question would have been related to whether or not he was aware of the Turkish Cypriots who are denied entry into Turkey…
I was unable to ask!
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Oh, what did Erdoğan say?
I couldn’t listen!
We’ll read the news!
The ordeal the UN employee went through…
A very high-level civilian official from the United Nations (UN)…
He crossed over to the TRNC with his wife over the weekend…
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Well, it’s embarrassing to say, but the TRNC is cheaper than water for someone who is paid in Euros or Dollars!
And despite all kinds of pollution, it is a beautiful geography…
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Anyway, our UN official went into the sea with his wife…
And then the expected happened!
The poor guy stepped on a broken glass bottle and cut his foot!
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It was a big and deep cut!
He went to a hospital with his wife!
But they refused to treat him at the hospital!
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Private or public, it doesn’t matter!
A person who is injured!
What’s more, he is a foreigner!
A guest!
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Anyway, the woman drove the car, they wrapped his foot with a towel and they crossed over to the South…
They stopped at the first clinic they found and received first aid treatment!
He had nine stitches and was warned he could have died if he had waited a little longer!
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Is TRNC a sovereign and equal state?
Come on, really!
[Photo insert: Photograph published in Yenidüzen newspaper showing Serhat İncirli being escorted from the place where Mr Erdogan was due to give a press conference]
A journalist can defend any view; a journalist, commentator, or reporter becoming news this way is the most evident indication of a country’s state of weakness, humiliation, and feeble democracy…
