Last week, we made important warnings about the "passport crisis" experienced by our citizens living abroad from this column and made a call to the officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Although our call has not been answered through an official statement through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs so far, I have to state that our citizens living abroad show great interest and respond.
We have received many returns from our citizens living in Europe. The information we received from Saadet Europe President Mr. Samet Sami Temel and Vice President Murat Gürbüz, whom we met to make consultations on the subject, also confirmed this interest.
Therefore, we have seen that we have actually brought an important problem of our citizens to the agenda on their behalf.
I would like to state with pleasure that according to what we heard, after our article, the authorities felt the need to take concrete steps towards a solution. We have been informed that additional personnel are assigned in embassies and consulates to avoid grievances due to official transactions, especially passport transactions.
If such a development has taken place, it is our duty to thank the authorities and expect them to act with the same sensitivity in their future work. We know that our readers and representatives of non-governmental organizations will follow these processes as a volunteer. Our duty is to convey their demands to the authorities from here.
The passport crisis actually reminds us of a point that we should not forget. Our citizens living in Europe have really important problems. Moreover, they have to fight with racist attacks and hostility on their own in this turmoil. The greatest support to be given to them in this process is to show sincere interest and closeness. You may not be able to solve their problems right away, but it is very important that they know that you are trying to do so. Belonging is not a one-sided phenomenon. To belong, the channels of interaction between the belonging and the belonging must be open. The congestion in the channels reveals the crisis of belonging.
A person who cannot feel belonging to where he belongs, turns into a leaf blowing in front of the wind. But this means a sad ending for him. Because, on this journey towards the unknown, other affiliations that come across can never create a real sense of belonging.
It is not coincidental that Turkish citizens living in Europe are still seen as "foreigners" in the land they have lived for 60 years. The absence of murderers of our people who were killed by racist attacks and many other discriminations, as in the past year in Hanau, therefore keep the awareness of belonging of our citizens living abroad warm. Therefore, belittling or disregarding the demands expressed in the passport crisis and similar events will be grave mistakes that will damage the ties of our citizens with the homeland. This situation will bring with it much greater losses one after the other.
However, we need the opposite developments.
What we need is; Our people living abroad and seeing themselves permanently there act confidently and intend to accept the conditions instead of surrendering to the conditions. For, Muslims have a great responsibility in shaping 21st century Europe and even the whole world. Europe's breaking away from superstition and pursuing a right-oriented policy depends on the right steps to be taken by European Muslims. To teach European societies the virtue of living together with differences and to change the education and media policies of European countries in order to gain this awareness depends on the integration of European Muslims.
Therefore, it is our duty to support all the steps that will be taken to restore our citizens' self-confidence, which has an important place among European Muslims.
Therefore, the main issue we want to bring to the agenda with the passport crisis; it is a matter of the authorities showing a genuine interest in our citizens living abroad.
In this sense, the visit of Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Yavuz Selim Kıran to the families of our people killed in Hanau is an important step. What will strengthen this step is to take concrete initiatives to increase the sense of belonging of our citizens and to activate them with diplomatic support.