LET THOSE WHO SURVIVED BE THANKFUL: THE YEAR OF SHAME, 2025

"From Gaza to Narin, from the flames of Kartalkaya to fading consciences… 2025 was a year of shame where humanity was buried under rubble. Feeling the weight of my mother’s words, 'Let the survivors boast,' we demand not happiness from 2026, but justice, the right to life, and conscience."

My mother would always repeat that ancient saying, distilled from a lifetime of experience, on important anniversaries: "Let the souls who survive to see this day next year, boast..."

As we entered 2024, when these words echoed in my ears, I merely nodded my head. But now, as I close the pitch-black ledger of 2025, I feel to my very marrow what my mother meant. Because 2025 was a year not just where calendar pages fell away, but where humanity, conscience, and innocence were shed.

"Surviving" is now merely a coincidence in these lands.

BLOOD, TEARS, AND ASHES

Remember how, entering 2024, we wished for a "world without war"? That wish collapsed like a pile of concrete onto the children trapped beneath the rubble of Gaza. The world watched the annihilation of a people on live television. While the so-called "Civilized" West applauded the massacre, humanity in Gaza died not from the noise of bombs, but from the deafening noise of silence. 2025 taught the world that human rights are valid only for "some."

And what about us? Our own home, Türkiye? Our pain has never ceased. While we still hadn't forgotten the innocent gaze of our young daughter Narin, while our collective conscience was left to rot in that creek bed, 2025 brought us new sorrows. With the heavy burden of a society that failed to protect Narin still upon us, this time we paid the price for negligence and greed for profit in Bolu Kartalkaya. The blackness of the fire and the screams of people mingled with the white of the snow. The lives lost in that fire—which everyone saw coming but was dismissed as "fate"—were not just statistics; they were the children of this country sacrificed to negligence.

I CONDEMN!

As I write these lines, simply saying "Happy New Year" would be hypocrisy. First we must reckon, then we can celebrate.

In this piece, I condemn openly and unequivocally:

I condemn the dark mentality that ripped a young girl, Narin, from life, and the system that failed to protect her and delayed justice. I condemn the profit-driven order in Bolu Kartalkaya that views safety measures as an expense and human life as cheap; that fails to inspect, signs off on permits, and turns its back. I condemn world leaders whose consciences are trapped in their wallets, continuing their trade, politics, and extravagance while babies in Gaza are buried without shrouds.

2026: WE JUST WANT TO "LIVE"

What do we expect from 2026? We no longer have grand dreams. Our expectations have shrunk, but they have become vital.

In 2026, we want a world where children do not "go missing," where forests and hotels do not burn for the sake of profit, and where people do not die under bombs.

We expect a World and a Türkiye where politicians do not polarize the public, but instead unite to soothe these pains; a world that puts "people first." We want a year where security reigns, not wealth; where justice reigns, not extravagance.

As my mother said, "Let the souls who survive, boast..."

Yes, we emerged alive from beneath the rubble of 2025. But in 2026, we don't just want to survive; we want to "live humanely."

With the hope for a year where suffering is accounted for and consciences are resurrected... I cannot say Happy New Year; instead, I wish for Just and Conscientious Years, World and Türkiye!