Hard power concentrated in the hands of a political system is the highest possible moral responsibility in a society.

Using that power to take human lives through a hurried judicial process is not justice but blind revenge undertaken with the aim of creating fear. Yet if a society has felt injustice in its very flesh, what emerges is anger rather than fear.

Political power that recklessly uses violence and cruelty as instruments for controlling society pushes that society toward breaking through the final barriers of fear.

What was executed today was the hope of that part of society that imagines an ordinary life with a clear conscience is possible upon soil stained by innocent blood and injustice.

The problem with power devoid of moral responsibility, power that no longer even tries to conceal injustice, is that it asks every citizen to choose only one of two things: an ordinary life or a peaceful conscience. Even for the simplest and least political citizens, this becomes the most difficult choice of their lives.

Aydin Areta