Hi!

I'd be very grateful for a translation of the verb/phrase "sümen altı etmek..." Unless I'm being really stupid, I can't see it in the big Redhouse or in the Turkish language dictionary I have, but I see from a Google search it is widespread in the press and is (in the example I have here, to do with a legal decision in Cyprus):

"Kararı sümen altı etmeyin!!"

It seems to be negative - to reject? Delay? Suppress? Block?

çok teşekkurler in advance for enlightenment...

-J-

Yes it has to do with delaying an action or desicion regarding official issues.

http://www.tdk.gov.tr/TDKSOZLUK/sozbul.ASP?Kelime=%20sümen%20altı%20etmek

This is what TDK suggests:
1 . Bir evrakın işleme konulmasını engellemek.
2 . Bir işin yapılmasını geciktirmek.

1. Preventing a document to be processed
2. Causing delay on some work

If you make a yahoo image search for sümen you will see the actual object. It is a flat leather desk accessory which you put on the desk. It is common to keep papers underneath it. The idiom is derived from this object.

Thankyou! That is extremely helpful. I see from the TDK dictionary that "sümen" comes from the French "sous-main" meaning a desk blotter similar to the ones in the image search. So sümen alti etmek - for a bureaucrat to file some document under a "sümen" and forget that it exists for a while. It makes perfect sense.

For some reason the link you posted to the phrase at TDK's site doesn't work ("sözü bulamadi") but I can find sümen itself on there, which would probably have given enough of a clue for me to be able to work it out. I'll remember to check their site in future before asking on here.

Many thanks again.

-J-