The silence of Büyükada started at the ferry port in Kabataş. I haven't boarded the ferry yet. The old couple next to me was talking among themselves about the election. The woman turned to her husband and said, "I don't want to go and see anything. I don't have any taste for it." The man did not answer. He turned his head towards the ferry. He looked at the sea for a long time. Then they both fell silent. Before even setting foot on Büyükada, it was possible to understand the weather that settled on the island.
It was noon when the ferry docked. The summer season was over and the tourist crowds had decreased. In the square, the island residents were going about their daily business. A few tourists, cyclists, shopkeepers waiting in front of their shops... Everything was in its place. But a lot was missing. Joy, joy, but most importantly, trust in the government and the opposition... The shopkeeper was calling his customers, but his voice did not rise. It was as if a heavy blanket had been drawn over the unique lightness of Büyükada. To whomever I approached, the sentences started differently but ended in the same place: "They deceived us. They ignored our will. Our vote was not taken care of. This should not be the response of the decision we made at the ballot box."
HOW DO YOU SELL?
I sit next to the well-known tradesman Muzaffer Küçüksarı, who was born and raised in Büyükada for 65 years. He is angry but does not scream. His words become harsher: "I voted for the CHP. How can you sell my vote? This is neither moral, nor conscientious, nor legal." He says he also knows the AKP's candidate. He even reminds us that he is also an islander. But he quickly adds: "Being from here is one thing. Having the electoral will usurped is another."
At another table is writer Ahmet Tanrıverdi from Büyükada. He is known as Fıstık Ahmet. This is the first time I see him this unhappy. His sentence is shorter: “I am 82 years old. "I have never seen such a disgrace." But then he also criticizes CHP's list. Because the reaction in the Islands is not just the "AKP has arrived" reaction. Some residents were also unhappy with the previous CHP administration.
After listing his criticisms of the old administration, a shopkeeper makes the following distinction: "It's one thing to criticize practices we see as wrong, but it's another to object to the voters' will being eliminated in a different way after the election."
When I say I am a journalist, there is an ebb and flow between wanting to speak and remaining silent. The majority are those who do not want to say their names. Frankly, professionally, I have been observing this pressure-induced helplessness and stuckness in the field in general for the last year. There are people who say, "We will get into trouble." Some say that they are tradesmen and that they are afraid that they will deliberately cause them difficulties when they have business with the municipality tomorrow or the day after. An island resident recalls the police who came to the island on election day. "They brought 10 buses of police so we wouldn't make a noise," he says. Then, “Are we murderers or bandits? “Who are they protecting from whom?” he asks, expressing his mood.
WHO COMPLAINS TO WHOM?
"What will change if we talk, girl?" Another: “What will happen if we take action?” Then comes this sentence: “If there was justice in the country, we would trust our state. But we feel like the state itself usurped our rights. “To whom will we complain?” Here in Büyükada, I come across that sentence several times: Who should we complain to whom? At that moment I realize that the thing that is heavier than people's anger is desperation. Because anger screams. Desperation remains silent.
THE TABLE CHANGED IN TWO YEARS
In the local elections of March 31, 2024 in the Islands, CHP won the mayoralty with 55.49 percent of the votes. AKP's vote remained at 22.85 percent. Two years later, a completely different picture emerged. On June 19, 2026, an operation was carried out within the scope of the investigation against the Adalar Municipality. 35 people, including mayor Ali Ercan Akpolat, were arrested. CHP's candidate Medine Pamuk was elected in the vice presidential election held after Akpolat was suspended from office. The municipal council reconvened after Pamuk resigned, citing health problems. This time the election ended differently. AKP's candidate Kemal Türkyılmaz received 5 votes in the first round. CHP's candidate Aytül Ekşiyan received 4 votes. In the second round, both candidates received 4 votes; One vote was deemed invalid. Then there was tension in the hall. CHP and NEW Party sides decided not to participate in the ongoing rounds of the election. In the third and fourth rounds, Türkyılmaz was elected deputy chairman with the votes of the remaining five council members in the hall.
'WE WILL SEE YOU AT THE BALLOT BOX'
The same silence, the same exhaustion in Heybeliada and Burgazada. The same “What happens now?” question. That liveliness in Büyükada is not here either. Some people are angry. Some of them are angry. Some of them are afraid. Some people believe that all this will not change anything anymore. But there is one sentence that almost everyone shares in common: "We will see each other at the ballot box." This is a wait. An accumulated anger seeking an outlet. It is the last place where people hold on to the belief that what they cannot change today, they can change tomorrow at the ballot box. Life goes on when viewed from the outside. But when you look at the faces of the islanders, you see something else. This time it's not as simple as who the mayor is. The issue is people's loss of confidence in the fate of their votes. People aren't just angry. A big disappointment...
