Turks in social media: We can't stop smiling

Social media is wonderful. I have two quotes from social media for this week?s column. One is from Facebook; the other is from Ek?i ?özlük (Sour Dictionary), the most popular website in Turkey. It is also on social media that Turkish people are these days complaining that they cannot wide the smile from their faces. Indeed it?s true, we cannot stop smiling. 

The first selection is from my friend, an activist and ex-journalist (actually, a journalist is always a journalist; one cannot be an ex-journalist) Ceylan Özerengin, who cannot work in her profession for known reasons. 

Interpreting the message that Turkish voters gave in last week?s elections, she wrote that if a political party that received 6 percent of the votes in the previous general election then receives 13 percent four years later, the message should be understood well: 

?I won?t write what the message is for other parties. I will try to evaluate the message given to the Kurdish issue-focused Peoples? Democratic Party [HDP].? 

?The ?one-time, entrusted, temporary? votes for the HDP, of which we do not know the percentage, came from all directions. It is obvious that these votes were cast to prevent the majority that could have made the presidential system possible. 

?But there is also another reason: The voter said, ?If you want a peaceful resolution, if you want peace, come, let?s do it together. Don?t take to the mountains. Don?t go to the powerful of the day. Don?t go to foreign supporters. Come to me. Persuade me. Actually, I have already been convinced up to a point. Now let?s go beyond this all together.?  

?There cannot be peace and freedoms in one part of Turkey and oppression and cruelty in the other part. Let peace be everywhere, together...