Aphrodite in Turkey

To the defense of public morals in Istanbul rushed one Ibrahim Hakki Konyali, a Turk of doubtful learning but steely ethic. Haled into court at his insistence was the publisher of the first Turkish translation of Aphrodite, by Pierre Louys, for 50 years a classic of carnality among Frenchmen and U. S. undergraduates. Istanbul bubbled like a hookah. Enlightened Turkish newspapers were highly incensed with Ibrahim Hakki Konyali. Then on Istanbul book stalls appeared a new Aphrodite, adorned with a photograph of a sculptured nude, billed as "the book everyone is talking about." The author: Ibrahim Hakki Konyali.

Content of this little come-on was merely an attack on the Pierre Louys book, but Self-Publicizer Konyali soon got it in the neck. The real Aphrodite was acquitted of obscenity charges, Konyali and the Public Prosecutor were both flayed in Cumhuriyet (The Republic), Turkey's leading daily. Last week the Prosecutor, fuming, had brought suit against 19 separate newspapers.

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