A British teenager has been deported from Turkey for stripping naked and swearing in front of a statue of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the republic.
Thomas Strong, 19, from Carlisle in Cumbria, approached the quayside statue while on holiday in Marmaris on Sunday and dropped his shorts, before launching into a tirade of abuse.
Local boat men were so furious at the insult that they called the police to arrest Strong.
The offence of insulting Ataturk, the former Army Officer who led the Turkish national movement and established the Republic of Turkey in 1923, is punishable by imprisonment for Turks.
Ayhan Hatay, who watched Strong’s actions in horror, said: “We couldn’t believe what we were seeing. Lots of tourists come and look at the Ataturk statue and take pictures. But this lad was something else – he stripped his clothes off and started waving his manhood and swearing at Ataturk.
“The police were there in minutes and took him away in handcuffs. To be honest he’s lucky it was the police that took him – Ataturk is the father of the Turkish Republic and a national hero – the local boys wanted to kill him for being so insulting – what is it about the British that they seem to enjoy being so rude and disrespectful.”
The Turkish authorities believed that Strong must either be drunk or suffering from a mental illness, but he was given a clean bill of health after being taken to hospital.
The teenager was held in police cells for several hours before being brought before a special court on Sunday afternoon, but could offer no explanation for his behaviour.
Answering the charge of insulting Ataturk, Strong told the court: “I don’t know why I did it”.
The judge ordered him to be immediately deported from Turkey and banned from returning for five years.
After the court case Strong was taken by police to Dalaman airport and put on a plane back to Britain.
British tourist John Connolley, who is on holiday in Marmaris, praised the actions of the Turkish authorities.
“To be honest I admire the Turks for their direct action. The boy had no reason to strip naked in public and insult a much loved national leader. He obviously was looking for a reaction and he got one – perhaps not what he expected though.
“Tourists should appreciate that if you come to Turkey you should behave respectfully – I think it’s a good thing – otherwise you get Brits behaving horribly like they have been on the Greek islands recently. In fact I think we should adopt the same attitude back home and deport badly behaved foreigners.”
However, for some Turks, the punishment was not severe enough and a Facebook group titled ‘String up Strong’ has been set up, calling for him to be hanged.
After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, founded in the 13th century, Ataturk led the national movement in the Turkish War of Independence.
He defeated forces sent by the Allied Powers and established the modern Republic of Turkey.
Ataturk, born in 1881, was President of Turkey for 15 years until his death in 1938.
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk, 17 Aug 2009