Our mistake wasn’t that we didn’t do what we could have done, rather that we didn’t know that we should have done it earlier."

This is such a disturbing read that I had to put it aside on several occasions. The warning signs that Temelkuran alerts the reader to are already being seen in Australia and reading this book has placed real terror in my heart for the future of our democratic country.

She points out the importance of a media that operates independently to the governing body of a country. Recent events in Australia have raised real concerns regarding our government’s ability to gag investigative journalism. We may all be quite cynical about our media, and for that matter, our government, but we still live in a country where you can gather and publicly protest against government policies, and where you can voice your opinion on social media without fearing reprisals. But for how much longer? As the world mourns the 30 year anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, there are Chinese citizens who have never heard of the incident, or if they have, they are too scared to speak of it.

“Truth is not mathematical concept that needs to be proved with equations. Its singleness demands an intact moral compass, with certainties about what is good and bad.” It’s easy to assume, I think, that we all have the same moral compass. In the past, it was based on similar church-based teachings regarding right and wrong; good and evil. Now we rely on the help of a secular morality, which Temelkuran argues has been slowly eroding since the the 1980s.

Using her country, Turkey, as an example of a country lost to dictatorship, Temelkuran points out the subtle changes that occurred: “Looking back, it becomes clear that the process only really starts after severe damage has been wreaked to the fundamental concept of justice, and once the minimal morality you didn’t know you depended on has been destroyed.” When I read this, I immediately thought of Australia’s “stop the boats” policy, and the ongoing treatment of refugees. This is exactly the kind of behaviour of which she is speaking. We should be very concerned.

Temelkuran concludes with a call to arms: “Our concept of joy should be redefined to understand that collective action does not only make for a better world, but a fulfilled individual. …when you fight your fight it leaves no time for debilitating melancholy to take root. Our generation, and probably the next, will have to find ways to make the joy of uniting sustainable. Otherwise…”

How to lose a Country has so much food for thought. It’s an important book, and has had an enormous impact on how I look at my country’s politics, and those of the rest of the world.