Alev Alatlı

This song draws inspiration from the philosophy of Turkish thinker Alev Alatlı, who argued that not every legal right is morally permissible in the ethical and spiritual sense. In her well-known remarks, she suggested that real justice is not measured only by courtroom outcomes, but by reconciliation by fulfilling what is owed, repairing harm, and, when necessary, voluntarily giving up legal entitlements for the sake of conscience and humanity.

Alatlı warned that one of the 21st century’s hardest tasks is aligning legality with morality: preventing freedom from bending toward harm, and recognizing that actions can be legally defensible yet ethically wrong whether that means exploiting loopholes for profit, blocking beneficial innovation, harming public health while staying “compliant,” or provoking unrest without bearing responsibility.

She also reminded us that no perfect system, economic progress, or international framework, from the UN Charter to the Helsinki Accords or human rights court rulings can save a civilization if its own values fade and its capacity for love and self-discipline collapses.

This track echoes that call: to seek a justice that can be called right, not only lawful, a justice grounded in conscience, compassion, and responsibility.