Gum offence

For a moment there, I thought this happened in Singapore.

Officer arrested for chewing gum at ceremony.

Oops ... sorry for jumping into such an easy conclusion. But I'm sure many Singaporeans won't fault us for this genuine mistake. After all, chewing gum IS banned in Singapore, right?

Actually, this happened in Turkey! Here's an excerpt of the amusing tale:-

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.

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.

Dalci, a 38-year-old pharmacist and father of two, (was quoted) 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.

Showing disrespect to Ataturk, the soldier-statesman who founded the modern Turkish Republic on the ashes of the old Ottoman Empire in 1923, is a crime in the European Union candidate nation. Ataturk died in 1938.

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Does this strange incident qualify for Ripley's Believe it or not?

Mr Veysel Dalci obviously would not find this as amusing as I did. Would he be thrown in jail for his mistake? I also wonder what's the punishment like for possession of chewing gum in Singapore. Gotta be very careful these days. You don't know what might hit you until it has hit you alright.