[Learn Turkish Home Page] [Beginners] [Table of Contents] [Questions or Comments]

[Habibullah Speaks!] [Latest website updates]

[Search the whole website] [Online Turkish word dictionary]

Identify this Famous Turk... To Jim and Peri's Commercial-free CD for Turkish Learning -- now with triple ebook bonus! Also available in Downloadable Broadband Edition Essential Suffixes Printed Book

Turkish Airlines (THY) and the Non-Alcoholic Tissue-Towels This tesettürlü family portrait with THY CEO Temel Kotil, caused a stir in secular circles when it appeared last month -- raising the question... Is Kotil leading Turkish Airlines into the past? Click for image enlargement. Thanks to Hürriyet Gazetesi -- 7 August 2006 Related Pages: Teetotaling THY Flight Attendants want a passenger alcohol-ban Is the Drinking of Alcohol Forbidden by Koranic Decree? Foreign Goods, Import Restrictions Children's Books Get an Islamic 'Facelift' Turkish Airlines (THY) -- modern or atavistic? Criticism of state-owned, government-controlled Turkish Airlines (THY) has been growing steadily over the past several months. Most critics see THY's conservative CEO and General Manager, Temel Kotil, as the source of a myriad of problems including delayed and cancelled flights, smelly in-flight bathrooms, and male flight attendants who don't want to serve alcohol to paying passengers. The most recent criticism comes from one of the most secular of Hürriyet Gazetesi's secular columnists, Emin Çolaşan. Emin Bey stops short of being anti-religious, but is relentless in tackling religion-based tomfoolery wherever he finds it. Take, for example, what he had to say in this sidebar to his column last Friday... [QUOTE} Non-Alcoholic Tissue-Towels In whose hands/ownership/possession is THY, our state-owned national airline? There's an Ottoman Empire emblem on the water bottles that they give out on the flights. And 'Stambul' is the brand name of the packaged-paper tissue-towels they provide. The proper name Istanbul has been altered in a manner that is suitable to Arabic Language -- since most Arabs refer to 'Istanbul' as 'Stambul'. And on these refreshing-towel packages, we read in Turkish, "Alkolsüz Serinletici Mendil" (Non-Alcoholic Cooling Towel). It's obvious that the government wanted it written like that. After the Turkish, printed in English, we read: "Refreshing towel." There is no reference in English to the towel being Non-Alcoholic. As everyone knows, cooling towels don't refresh from drinking them. You use them to wipe your hands and face. So why, then, are these paper refreshing-towels labelled especially as being non-alcoholic? Is it because [government-controlled] THY now perceives it to be a sin [against Islam] to wipe your hands and face with a paper-towel moistened with alcohol-containing cologne? If it's a sin, then please let the THY management [and the government] explain it to the rest of society. It's possible that some people (who will use these moistened-towels) don't drink alcohol. That's fine, I respect their conviction. But I wonder, do those same people also refrain from using Turkish Lemon Cologne? (Ed. Note: Especially after meals, Turks routinely use Lemon Cologne to refresh the hands and face, in an everyday observance of basic custom and tradition.) So what, then, is the reason for this annoying officiousness of THY? Our national airline THY is an international company, which is falling apart at the seams. These non-alcoholic refreshing towels are just another indicator of how our country is being dragged down -- even in the skies -- by the backward mentality of our government and its appointed managers. [END QUOTE] Since competition from private airlines is heating up in a big way in Turkey, state-owned THY may need to get its act together soon. Today, for example, the private-carrier Pegasus Airlines (headquartered in Izmir) began offering a new 25 YTL one-way fare between Ankara and Istanbul for passengers who book 60 days in advance. That's a 30 YTL reduction from their standard one-way fare of 55 YTL. This new cheaper-than-bus-fare-price from Pegasus makes THY's standard one-way fare between Ankara and Istanbul of around 80 YTL look positively (and outrageously) inflated... Related: Teetotaling THY Flight Attendants want a passenger alcohol-ban Is the Drinking of Alcohol Forbidden by Koranic Decree? Foreign Goods, Import Restrictions Children's Books Get an Islamic 'Facelift' Troubles in Turkish Paradise -- Threats of Terrorism and Religious Excess Turkish Culture -- 4 things you shouldn't do in Turkey Turkish Culture -- 5 things you should do in Turkey Turkish Culture -- Two Turkish traditions we especially like Circumcision and what many Turks believe about Westerners Circumcision Ceremony and Costume Circumcision Fear... The Boys of Erzurum make a run for it Mature Foreign British Bride in Turkey Mature Foreign Swedish Bride in Turkey

Unrelated fun: The Feri Cansel Story -- another erotik Turkish movie-star meets a tragic end Zerrin Egeliler - (most of) everything you always wanted to know Turkish Movies Tarkan's Metamorphosis Album -- Christmas Day Release Turkish Music -- Tarkan Real-Life Weight Loss a la turc (with booklet) Habibullah and the Great Cannon Caper A simple Turkish 'thing'... Turkish Music -- Kayahan Turkish Belly Dancers Turkish Food and Beverage Turkish Terms Of Endearment Turkish Personal Names Politically Incorrect Turkish Humor Off-Color Turkish Gossipy Turkish Who's Who Turkish Conventional and 'Erotik' Movies, Index Post your comment...»