Good news arrive from all corners of Turkey … Last week we wrote that none of the MPs of İzmir attended the FORUM meeting, but did not call it a “bad news” since the following sentence was a proof of the consolidation of the understanding underlying this work. İzmir FORUM JWG had set a date for its next meeting and decided to send messages to the MPs, inviting them to the next meeting as well as expressing disappointment at their absence at the first one. (*) The following week saw FORUM meetings in Malatya (8 Noember) and Diyarbakır (9 November). Şanar Yurdatapan and Muteber Öğreten who acted as facilitators at those meetings attended the preparatory meetings in Elazığ, Tunceli, Batman and Mardin, informing NGOs and Professional Organisations on FORUM JWG movement, and answered questions. Numerous cities are preparing to hold FORUM meetings in the coming days. On Saturday 22 November Hürriyet Şener will be in Edirne, Şanar Yurdatapan in Kayseri, and Muteber Öğreten in Van for FORUM meetings and as usual they will be visiting neighbouring cities for preparatory meetings. On the 28th of November İzmir, 29th of November Konya, and again on the 29th - 30th of November Gaziantep and Şanlıurfa. Sakarya, Eskişehir, Kocaeli and Hakkari are among the cities which will have had the FORUM meetings by the end of November. Watch the Work Schedule of the Parliament! In the meanwhile Turkish Grand National Assembly’s (TGNA) Budget Commission working without break is expected to accomplish 2009 budget by 21 November and send it to the General Assembly. TGNA General Assembly will be probably working intensely on the “Budget” from 15 November to 26 November and expected to begin talks on the 2009 Budget after the holiday of the Feast of the Sacrifice ( a 9 day holiday). In short, we can say that the 2nd. and the 3rd. weekends of December do not look suitable for FORUM meetings. Saturdays and Sundays 6-7 and 27-28 of December seem okay for meetings. The weekend at the end of the holiday, 13-14 December can only be used if they fit into the private programs of the MPs. We should take into account the work schedules of political parties and the Parliament so that we can expect them to respect the FORUMs. Who would have thought it could happen? If you remember, we stated at the press meeting at the Parliament on 9 October 2008 that there were FORUMs in 20 cities and they would have their first meetings before the end of November; issuing a call for the remaining 61 cities to set up their FORUMs. We then said that Parliamentary JWGs which had been a dream merely a year ago were realised, and there were 13 groups each with at least 10 MPs in it. We said that for the local FORUM JWGs we aimed at covering all of the 81 cities in one year. Please count the flashing small lights in the map above. Count fast since new cities may start flashing while you are counting them. Just like the days of “One Moment’s Darkness for the Light”, 11 years ago… Warm regards… ********************* (*) The biggest obstacle we had in the first days was our lack of self confidence and lack of confidence in one another. It was the lack of hope expressed in saying “Even if we get together, MPs will not”. Can you imagine for example a football team, let’s say Fenerbahçe is in the changing rooms but undecided whether or not to go out to the pitch to play. They send someone to check if the audience is there? If the stadium is empty then the footballers are not going to play!.. Why should the public come if the footballers are not in the field? Public will surely come as long as the footballers go out to the field confidently to play. Bülent Ecevit’s famous metaphor from years back still stands: "Democracy will only solve problems when the electors stop watching the game of politics from the public gallery and go down to the pitch.”