Right through all the recent difficult times we have been going through as a country, something happened that filled us all with hope: Young Elif and Ayda greeting life once again from the wreckages. Each one of us had the inexplicable euphoria of witnessing a miracle when we saw the joy of life on their innocent faces. 81 million hearts interlocked around this miracle. And with our eyes filled with tears, we remembered once again that we can surmount a common misery only by holding on to and gaining strength from each other.
Let us confess that 2020 is being far from easy both for the world and for our country. Many mornings we wake up to news that upset or outrage us and make it hard to keep our hope. Social media and newspapers race among each other to display disaster scenarios. We are going through times when pessimism is deemed equal to realism and optimism and hope do not gain favor at conversations. However, the first condition of overcoming all the difficulties and troubles we are having, the absolute must, is raising hope. Have not our dear children, our beloved Elif and Ayda demonstrated this fact once again and by touching us all in the heart? Have not Elif yesterday and Ayda today filled all Turkey with hope?
Right now we are going through a difficult process in many dimensions starting from health and the economy. We can surmount these difficult times for our country by keeping our hopes up for the future, joining hands around common causes, and mending our unity and solidarity.
Differences in perspectives have been dividing, separating, and estranging us from each other in an increased pace recently. It seems like we caught the disease of alienating each other. But what we must do is to exist with and empathize our differences, build up tolerance and reconciliations among each other. We can stand side by side in grief and in joy without alienating each other, heal our wounds together, recover, and continue our way with stronger steps than before. For this, we must act quick to reunite and become “us” again. We must be able to stand together in grief, sorrow, joy, and cheer just like we used to in the past. The day we achieve this, I assure you that we can overcome any trouble with ease.
We owe Elif and Ayda that gave us hope today and all our children a bright future. We will learn from our beautiful children like Elif and Ayda how to cling to tomorrow with hope, get a grip on life and keep joy of life even in the toughest of circumstances. We owe a bright future to these darling children that carried big hopes in their small hearts during the hardest times, to all beautiful children of this beautiful country. They have our word!
Life is not a sprint, but a marathon. Have dreams for better days and have hopes as strong as your dreams! And do not forget: “Where there is life, there is hope.”