Dalci was probably falling under the spell of decadent Western influences; he was probably thinking, "Don't wanna be a bum/You better chew gum/The pump don't work/'Cause the vandals took the handles."
In Turkey, it's either political Islam or the cult of Ataturk. If they don't clap you in the slammer for chewing gum at Ataturk's tomb, watch out: the jihadist vandals will take the handles.
Either way, forget about that pump working.
A Let-Them-Into-the-EU Alert; will the Eurodhimmis take notice of just how far Turkey is from being a Western pluralist free society? This is the kind of thing one might expect happening in Nazi Germany or Stalinist Russia, but not in Modern Multicultural Europe. From Reuters, with thanks to Looney Tunes:
ANKARA (Reuters) - An official in Turkey's ruling party has been arrested for chewing gum while laying a wreath at a monument to the country's revered founder Kemal Ataturk, the state Anatolian news agency said on Monday.Veysel Dalci, head of the local branch of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in the Black Sea town of Fatsa, was charged with insulting Ataturk's memory during Sunday's ceremony marking Turkey's National Sovereignty Day.
CNN Turk television quoted Dalci, a 38-year-old pharmacist and father of two, as saying he chewed gum to hide the smell of garlic which he had eaten the previous evening.
"After laying a wreath at the monument, I noticed I had gum in my mouth. I am very sorry," CNN Turk quoted him as saying.
Anatolian said Dalci was arrested after a local army garrison commander complained to state prosecutors. It was not immediately clear what kind of penalty Dalci would face.
Robert, I never knew you could be so Dylanesque!
I can guess what Veysel Dalci's punishment will be for illegally chewing gum: this well-respected official is about to be named Turkey's next ambassador to Singapore!
LOL so he got himself into a sticky situation. Oh, those Turks. They want to be European, but by blood, they are islamic so they can't think rationally.
"Death to the gum chewers! All to the snack bar!"
Singapore? Well he better watch out. If he spits that gum on the sidewalk, he'll get arrested. LOL. This guy can't win.
I would suggest that he write twenty-five times on the blackboard, "I will not chew gum at Ataturk's tomb." Oh, this is Turkey; he will have to write it while he is being beaten with a cane.
What kind of penalty?
Death! Death! Death!
The greatest insult of all for a Turk is fear of smelling like garlic. This is a very unTurkish fear.
In accordance with sharia law, his teeth will be extracted and he will not be permitted to have dentures, as they are tools of the infidel.
Master Shake, that was some biting commentary, I'll say.
Double-Bubble means double-trouble.
"There is nothing funny in Islam."
But Islam, itself.
My mom's favorite song was "Did Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor (On the Bedpost Overnight?)".
I think Dalci will take the relevant tasteless Koranic sura more seriously in the future:
"Chapter 5, verse 45-
"We ordained for them: A Life for a Life, An Eye for An Eye, and A Tooth for A Tooth...."
And his punishment for this insult to Ataturk?
To be gummed to death.
By geriatric jihadists.
periodically, an article on jihadwatch (which i greatly admire) seems wrong-headed. the article about muslim women wanting their own times in the swimming pool (when they had been promised just that) is one. and now this deal with a turkish officer arrested.
how is his crime different from someone who disrespects the american flag or spits in a church? isn't the call for a revival of Christian culture also a call for a different kind of informal behavior and perhaps even laws to restrict behavior deemed against the main tradition?
even if you disagree, you should see that this deal with the gum-chewing turk is a small matter, not really an example of the worst of islam coming up for air in Turkey. it's really not a human-rights issue, really not our business.
tonight fjordman has an article on events in scandanavia:
http://gatesofvienna.blogspot.com/
StillBreathing:
In regard to the Muslim women and the gym, there is more to that story. Watch this space for an update tonight or tomorrow.
As for this story, I just thought it was funny -- and worth posting as an illustration of how tight Kemalism's grip is and must be. It has nothing to do with "the worst of islam coming up for air in Turkey," and I did not say it did.
Watch your assumptions, please.
Cordially
Robert Spencer
fair enough. not islam coming up for air, but also, little different from what any society does to protect a sphere of reverence against sloppy behavior.
Stillbreathing
What was telling about this story is that Turkey would either have to be forced to worship Kemal down to not chewing gum while laying a wreath, or else, they'd become psychotic practitioners of Islam.
Which is really revealing given the co-ordinated campaign to let them into the EU.
He should have swallowed it.
I think the cult of Ataturk, as an obvious substitute for the cult of Muhammad, should be encouraged. The Justice and Development Party is the party of Erdogan, and while Ataturk did not rise from his tomb to declare "Hey, you dissin' me" that is possibly what was deliberately being done.
I don't object to this making-an-example punishment of a member of the ruling Islamic party who probably was determined to show his indifference. Turkey's masses have benefited from the systematic attempts by Ataturk to limit the political and social power of Islam. He was not wonderful at all, but the cult of personality around Ataturk was intended to replace Muhammad (not all Kemalists have dared to recognize this). Better Ataturk than Muhammad. Is that the only possibility? you ask. For now, in Turkey, given the mental makeup of the masses, I'm afraid so.
Which do you think is better for Infidels? Which do you think is better for Turks?
They didn't take kindly to gum back in the Catholic schools I attended, either. But to their credit, no one was ever arrested or ill-treated.
Some were detained. In detention. But only for an hour.
From this website of halal (permitted) and haram (forbidden) foods in Islam:
http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Spa/9987/halal.htm
Apparently, Wrigley's, Trident, Chicklets [sic], Dentyne and Dynamints are all okay, but Beach-Nut [sic] gums are not.
Another site says: "Chewing gum is a product which raises a number of questions. A typical chewing gum wrapper reads "gum base sugar, corn syrups, flavor and softeners". What does a consumer understand by gum base or softeners? Industry need to be more specific on labels. Hidden ingredients presents another serious problem for the Muslim consumers... The flavoring may have several ingredients which are not Halal."
A religion for which chewing gum "raises a number of questions" is a ridiculous religion. Granted, Orthodox Judaism also has similar religiously-based prophylactic minutiae about diet and mundane behavior; but the difference is that their religion is not nourishing the global problems and violence which Islam is, and furthermore, Orthodox Jews do not frame their behavioral rules within an arrogantly supremacist universalism, as does Islam:
Islam is the natural way of life. Its economical system is just; its social system is based on cooperation and brotherhood; its political system is based on consultation and its dietary laws are very simple and beneficial for the entire humanity.
Allah, in His mercy and blessings, has made everything Halal (permissible) except a few which are Haram (forbidden). According to the Shari'ah (Islamic law), the following things are not permissible... [etc.]
http://www.halalandharam.com/WhyHalaal.asp
TV-
You'd think the Creator of the Universe would have better things to do than to bother creating things that would only end up forbidden to its own creatures in the end.
Or worrying about gum.
What is Allah, anyway, a big shoe?
A really big shoe?
StillBreathing:
"...how is his crime different from someone who disrespects the american flag...."
Come on, now. Are you American? If so, do you recall the calls for an amendment or an act of Congress regarding flag burning, flag wearing, flag wrapping, and everything else associated with the flag? Are you aware that the flag is on clothing, used as candy wrappers, makeup, tattoos, need I go on? Childish or not, that's America.
His crime is being treated very differently from most in the USA. I remember how a woman who ate a sandwich on the Metro (subway) in DC (a regulation violation) was arrested (!) and chained to a lamppost before being taken away (!) That was an exception to the US norm but DC can get pretty petty and horrible sometimes and one wonders if that was what was going on in Turkey.
His "crime" was ridiculous and petty and the response very different from and much more draconian than the open debate over the status of the American flag.
"the pump don't work 'cause the vandals took the handle"
-Dylan?
I thought that was Vanilla Ice!
hasan salami-
Rent the D.B. Pennybaker documentary film "Don't Look Back".
It starts with the proto-music 'video' "Subterranean Homesick Blues". Dylan/Zimmerman flipping cue cards for the main lyrics. "Vandals/handles" included.
And one of my favorites-
"The highway is for gamblers,
Better use your sense.
Take what you have gathered from coincidence.
The vagabond, he's rappin' at your door,
Standing in the clothes that you once wore.
Strike another match, go start anew.
And it's all over now, baby blue."
Good little movie, too.
i'm a bit confused about the american flag deal, not wanting to arrest folks who burn it as political protest, but not wanting rock stars to wear it as clothing. in any case, this event in turkey happened when the gum-chewer was participating in an official ceremony, so the behavior was worthy of some punishment. a night in jail seems stiff, but not draconian.
protects the society's sense of the holy; and this holy is not too bad.
I wonder what they would have made of Michael Foot and his donkey jacket at Remembrance day in the UK?
I can hear it now, just like the nuns so many years ago:
"Well Little Mister, did you bring enough for Everyone!?!?!"
;0)
I'm afraid it's not a laughing matter, the poor bugger may have to spend a year in Turkish jail (remember Mignight Express?). On the other hand, the ruling party in Ankara is a krypto-Islamist one, he may have chewed in order to show his neglect for Dhimmy (or was it Donme?) Ataturk.