Meanwhile, a new twist on the usual local explanation for accidents - lost control of the steering wheel. A man driving a rental car in Lefkoşa crashed into the wall of a house (though not at right angles as I first imagined it). His first words as he emerged from the car were ‘They’ve built a house in the road!’
Eyewitnesses said that the driver claimed to have lost his sense of direction on the street and to have been surprised to find that the house was so close. Well, it’s not easy to play the roles of driver, navigator and map reader all at the same time.
Not that we’ve been especially tempted but it is against the law here to insult Turkish presidents, and they don’t have to be present or even living to qualify. A man was just arrested for insulting Ataturk, founder of the modern Turkish nation. Actual insult not included in English translation but the offence took place in a gym and not on a soapbox.
Assume that the applicability of the law is limited to Turkish leaders, and would never in any case have been inclined to say bad things about Ataturk, for whom I have some admiration. And a certain affinity as we once stayed in a hotel in Aleppo where Ataturk had, many years earlier, made his Syrian headquarters.
There are, however, presidents of some other countries where I might feel insult was called for.
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