Perçin İmrek’s Tale Of a Kingdom

Perçin İmrek was CD member in 2008/09, Chairman of the Agora in 2010/11 and Project Manager of AEGEE-Europe’s “Where does Europe end” project. A few days ago he wrote a story of an imaginary kingdom. In this kingdom, there has been a lot of turmoil since its history. However, in the last year, the kingdom’s democratic values and stability is seen as an even bigger concern to many.

Let us see how creative Perçin is.

“This kingdom has never been a perfect example of a democratic rule. But yes, it has been a democracy for almost 100 years.

Even in imaginary kingdoms, there can be imaginary enemies that try to take over the kingdom through illegitimate manners. But you know what they say, even the worst elected kingdoms are better than the best coup.

So once upon a time, there were some insurgents in the army who took up some vehicles and arms and did some futile acts to scare people. They kidnapped planes that flew so low that almost made people deaf. They ran tanks around the city, blocking roads and bridges. They even invaded the state television and forced the anchor woman to make a statement, saying that the army took over.

Seeing these, the imaginary people of this imaginary kingdom thought for a second that these people actually succeeded. However, it was not long before that the governments started making statements, telling people to go out in the streets and ‘protect’ the ‘democracy’.

Meanwhile, common folk was scared. They were scared of what they heard, they were scared of what they saw and they were scared of what might happen in the future. They were praying for the best. This all seemed quite surreal.

In short time, the government ‘blew away’ the coup attempt, reinstating ‘stability’. This was good on the surface, but it also brought many questions within, this biggest one being:

• Was this, indeed, a real attempt or just manipulation that the government knew about?

It might have been a real coup, it might have been a stage and even worse, it might have been a mixture of both. In all cases, it is the people who suffered from this and the kingdom who benefited.

• Why weren’t people who were a part of the ‘movement’ that orchestrated the coup located and stopped before it was too late? Why did they wait for decades for this ‘movement’ to infiltrate to all the public institutions?

Politics, mutual interests, hypocrisy…

• Were there innocent people who got prosecuted in the aftermath of the events?

As always, yes.

• Will the emergency rule that the kingdom declared have effects on people’s daily lives?

Maybe, but nothing specific has been seen yet. Also the king assured us all that this emergency is not for to intervene with daily life, but to take some ‘legislative’ decisions quicker.

• What more does the king want?

When leaders have more power than they can handle, they usually want more and more, to the point of destruction, with no regard to who is standing in their way. This, unfortunately comes at a high price, especially for the public. The good thing is, the hunger for power for individuals generally do not last forever.

• What about the people that were out on the streets to protect the ‘democracy’? Did they really protect democracy?

The good thing was, this brought all the political parties together for the same cause – at least for now. The bad thing was, this was also a great opportunity for fanatics to run horse as they want, which resulted in a few brutal deaths.

• Do my friends want to leave the kingdom? Do I want to leave the kingdom?

When you look at it now, the situation in this kingdom is back to ‘business as usual’. But yes, some people have told me about their intentions of a plan B. Myself included.

• What about other kingdoms? Are they helping enough, or at all?

Generally, the other kingdoms are focused on self-interest, as it usually is in politics. However, one can agree that it is quite hypocritical when one kingdom criticizes another, and then promises that kingdom 3 billion Euros just to keep out refugees from their head, which even gives more power to that kingdom.

• Is there something AEGEE can do?

There is always something young people can do. Follow what is going on, ask people who experience the situation first hand and raise awareness on the issue in your communities.

• Anything you would like to add?

As in all cases, the power struggles and ego battles damage only one group, the average people. I hope to be part of a cause that will help make this world a better place.

Oh and by the way, I am from Turkey. Even though this story has nothing to do with it…”