Turkey Legalizes the Letters Q, W, and X.

[jimmy olsen]

This legislation may be too radical for me to support.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/lexicon_valley/2013/10/24/turkey_prime_minister_erdogan_s_democratizaton_package_legalizes_letters.html

Turkey Legalizes the Letters Q, W, and X. Yay Alphabet!

By Mark Liberman

Back in 2005, a Turkish court fined 20 Kurds 100 lira (US$74) for holding up placards at a New Year's celebration containing the letters Q and W. The use of those letters—and X as well—violated the law of Nov. 1, 1928 on Adoption and Application of Turkish Letters, the purpose of which was to change the writing system of Turkish from the Arabic-based system of the Ottomans to the Roman-based system developed under the secular, modernizing regime of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

Now it's true that Q, W, and X aren't exactly winning popularity contests in any language, but what's so repugnant about them that a law should exist to prohibit their very existence? Well, for starters, they appear in Kurdish but not in Turkish, and restricting a minority language—Kurdish has historically been spoken by 10-25 percent of the country's population—is one way to oppress a minority.
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And although the fine represented a technically correct application of the statute, enforcement of the law was selective. Western companies routinely used the banned letters—in advertising and promotion— without consequence, for example in the case of Xerox Turkey, a longstanding, habitual abuser of the dreaded X.

Or should I say formerly dreaded? After 85 years, the letters Q, W, and X have apparently been legalized as part of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's "Democratization Package" of Sept. 30, 2013. Great news for both the Kurds and Roman alphabet completists.

At press time, the letter K said that it was glad to have its brethren back in the fold. Diphthongs, however, remain verboten.

[Ideologue]

Why are these clowns still part of NATO?

[Josquius]

Why are these clowns still part of NATO?

The point here is they're de-clowning

[Ideologue]

Too little, too late.  Stop pretending to be part of Western civilization, just because one time you marched on Vienna.

[Camerus]

Twice, actually.  But yeah, September 11, 1683 was as close as they got to being part of Western civilization.

[Baron von Schtinkenbutt]

Too little, too late.  Stop pretending to be part of Western civilization, just because one time you marched on Vienna.

The irony is that these laws were enacted to try to make them more a part of Western civilization.

[Razgovory]

Well now they can share notes with Quebec.

[Josquius]

Too little, too late.  Stop pretending to be part of Western civilization, just because one time you marched on Vienna.

The irony is that these laws were enacted to try to make them more a part of Western civilization.

I dunno. It's pretty messed up from an anglo-american standpoint but see also: France.