Ibrahim Karagul
It is the coronavirus (COVID-19) that has changed the world order, not the competition between the US and China, the nuclear power competition, the space defense and discovery competition; not the finance system and economic order that work to serve 1 percent of the world population; not those who have control over resources and markets; not those possessing the greatest military and economic power; not those who designed the world post-Cold War; and not those striving to intervene in the fate of countries and nations.
The world order that has been maintained for centuries under the control of the West, their values, lifestyle, power understanding, world map, and the way they perceive life has collapsed. This is what was expected. The epidemic simply expedited it and perhaps finalized it. The epidemic changed us all, the world – and is going to continue to do so – to a degree incomparable to World War I and II. The world as we know it might never be the same again.
We are going to wake up to a new world. What will change in our lives? New sorts of lifestyles, new habits, traditions, human relations, social life, economic order, new forms of production and consumption, new settlement and urbanization philosophies, new state perceptions, new political discourses and ideologies, and new forms of organization are going to be developed.
We are going to change our lifestyle and culture, our habits, our relationships, our ties to the social domain, our production and consumption, our view on life and countless other practices.
After the epidemic, without exception, we are all going to wake up to a brand-new world. That is when we will see what has changed and will change.
Fastest spreading, infectious virus in human history: Right now, we are fighting against this disease, the epidemic. We are trying to understand how this virus is able to spread so rapidly, how it is so infectious, how no vaccine or medication has not yet been found, how it cannot be slowed down, and how soon it can be taken under control. People are under lockdown in their homes. Cities have shut down. Countries have been closed. Unprecedented measures encompassing the whole world have been taken.
Some countries like the US surrender to panic: Some countries like the US have lost their cool and are expecting the death toll to reach hundreds of thousands. Additionally, health systems in the US and European countries are at risk of collapse. Scientists, the health sector, institutes are working around the clock. Some are working to treat, some to find the cure, some to keep the social order running, and others to strengthen social solidarity.
Some countries are declaring martial law, while some are trying to keep social awareness alive with respect to staying home. Billions of people are using their most powerful weapons against the virus and trying to beat this invisible enemy. Why are reports of vaccine and cure studies coming from Asian countries? Could the tuberculosis vaccine be a source of hope?
All known treatments are being scanned and reviewed, as scientists are ascertaining which could be used. The cure for the epidemic has not yet been discovered, but the emphasis on the second-degree treatability of certain medications persists – and trials are being conducted in this regard. We hear of reports almost every day that a certain medication may provide some sort of hope. Humanity is mobilizing all its knowledge in the field of medicine and utilizing all its experiences.
While Australia announced it will be testing the tuberculosis vaccine and medications, Japan-based reports are also focusing on the tuberculosis vaccine (BCG). Maps are being developed according to countries where the tuberculosis vaccine is used; it is claimed that the number of deaths in countries where the vaccine is compulsory is less.
Yet, strangely, vaccine and medication reports are coming from the East, from Asian countries, while there is no action in the US and Europe. The US and Europe are focusing more on slowing the disease down and, what is more, maintaining the health system, rather than finding a cure.
In one day alone, there were 920 deaths in the US; 950 in Spain; and 569 in the UK. What’s happening to these countries? We have been following the stats daily, from Asia every morning, and from Europe and the US every evening. With 920 deaths in the US, 950 in Spain, and 569 in the U.K. in one day alone, the catastrophe has become even more horrific, with concerns reaching boiling point. The virus originated in China, in the East, but it is wreaking havoc in the US and Europe! We have to know why. Are Western countries really this helpless or is there something else we do not know?
How China took control of the epidemic, how Japan and South Korea slowed it down, why the death rate is low in countries such as Singapore and Hong Kong, how the death rate is low in Germany yet the number of cases is high are all topics that inflame our curiosity.
Miraculous success in a difficult region: Turkey is like Japan, South Korea not US, Europe. Turkey is not geographically protected as the U.K., Japan, South Korea and the US It has many neighbors. There are intense population movements from its surroundings. It is a country on the intercontinental passage route. However, Turkey has been one of the countries that has been able to control the epidemic to a certain extent so far.
It is nothing like European countries and the US in terms of the number of cases and deaths. It is taking a course more like Japan and South Korea. It resembles Germany in terms of treatment and health intervention.Of course, this is largely due to strong central coordination, the ability to make decisions quickly, a solid health system and infrastructure, and calm management. When evaluated on a regional scale, Turkey is carrying on a miraculous fight. There is nothing like this in any other country. What we are dealing with is more dangerous, more infectious than any virus
It is able to run things smoothly despite all the evils of a group never seen in any country in the world; a group that is striving to break our people’s resistance and lead them to a psychological breakdown; a group that uses even a epidemic to take political revenge. Of course, we cannot predict the future. No country can. However, the current situation and the method applied to fight the virus give us hope. The US and Europe, in which the world had invested its hopes, have officially collapsed.
We are confident that Turkey will be one of the countries in which hope will rise, and we want this for all of humanity. All of humanity is in the same boat and engaged in the same mobilization. They are all seeking salvation – and they will find it. Some countries are going to suffer more than others. But the world will never be the same again. Hope is the most powerful weapon we have.
