* The body and the mind speak different languages. Humans ara both carnivorous and herbivorous. Our digestive system was designed to extract nourishment from both sources.

* We are clever, cruel and treacherous creatures. This is evident in the ways we obtain our food relatively effortlessly.

* Our mind perceives a different sort of human cliché;  the one that goes to the moon, wins Oscars or Nobel prizes and engages himself/herself with charity.

I know Animal Farm but have no clue about Animal Firm.

I read 1984, Animal Farm and Coming Up for Air but I barely remember the plot. It must have been 25 years.

I like chili con cooked by an American friend using pork but I am not particularly crazy for that kind of meat. Obviously, I am not used to eating it. Since all the foods available in this country must comform with the Islamic principles, I can say I am quite happy to eat what is available to me.

Alcohol is another such matter that I differ quite drastically from the general Islamic path. I drink a bottle of wine unless of course I am sharing it with others. I am perfectly accustomed to this routine. Once or twice a week, this much alcohol does not do any visible harm to me. I don´t even get drunk. I stay perfectly normal; just a bit happier and relaxed maybe.

Of all the items on the halal list the one that categorizes illegally and unethically obtained food as haram must be the most meaningful restriction. Though it necessitates superhuman ethics.

Helal and haram ara not limited to our diet only. Our relations with the other sex  among other things must comform too. For example, a woman who is not related or married to a man is haram to that man. It is not just hanging out together which is prohibited, they can´t even look at each other. If they do, they commit adultery. In Islam adultery does not necessarily have to be physical. You may desire a person but you must control your feelings and ask for forgiveness if that person is not halal to you. If you can´t help looking at the other sex than you commit adultery. In Islam, intentions are as important as real actions...

Saudis are people too. Islam recognizes the fact that humans are prone to commit sins. Many points are left open for free reasoning. I have found a quotation from Mohammad which explains what the basis must be when determining what´s halal and what is haram:

If something is harmful in large quantity, even a small quantity of it is haram too. Alcohol is one such food. It is harmful in large quantity and makes you forget the word of God; so even a tiny amount of it is haram too. At least, as stated by Mohammad.

As an example to the point I made at the beginning of the paragraph, the verse in Quran can be paraphrased like this: From dates and grapes one makes several drinks some are healthy and some are harmful. Use your reasoning to find which one is halal and which one is haram.

That is just religious conditioning. You cannot find direct answers to such questions from religious circles. Both Jews and Muslims have rather sophisticated sets of rules explaining what to eat and what not to eat. International food companies proudly indicate this point when they export foods to Islamic and Jewish countries.

The general explanation is like this (for Islam) you don´t eat the flesh of predators or any animal which feeds on its own excretion.

If you have obtained a food through illegal or unethical means regardless of what type of food it is, it is not helal to consume it.

If an animal is slaughtered by a non-muslim, or by a muslim who slaughters the animal without having a religious wash first and without asking God´s consent by repeating certain phrases, the meat of that animal is not helal.

Any sea animal other than fish is not helal.

Vegeterianism: refusing to eat meat is contrary to God´s will. However, if someone doesn´t eat meat through preference or because of a health problem. His diet is halal.

Alcohol consumption, transportation of alcoholic drinks, buying, selling and being in the company of those consuming alcohol are all haram.

In Turkey, most people don´t observe some of these rules.

An American friend of mine says he has difficulty following English language conversations when he goes to Britain or even the US. Since he has been living here for more than 20 years, he has a problem with catching the context. People talk about somethings which are only meaningful to those who know the background of the thing being talked about.

Similarly, we should take into account the context in which Ataturk said that sentence. It is probably one sentence that sums it all for the new Turkish republic which was built from the ashes of the former Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire was a religious nation. It assumed the duty of protecting and spreading Islam. Its sultan was a caliph who was like the pope of the Islamic (sunnite) nations almost all of which had already been united under a single flag.

The Ottomans deliberately put the emphasis on religion. We had Greek, Italian, Armenian and Jewish pashas, rulers and religious leaders who according to the millet system were given virtual autonomy in internal affairs. Each religion group were governed by their own religious leaders according to their own laws regarding affairs concerning their own communities.

As it is understood, the Ottoman version of the slogan would be "Ne mutlu müslümanım diyene" or "Hristiyanım diyene" etc. Ataturk changed this and launched a national government. At that time there was no money, lots of deaths and lots of poverty. Ataturk used the only bond available to him, it was the Turkish identity which had long been forgotten.

It was an era marked by the rise of nationalism. All of The Ottoman territory had been lost to nationalist rebellions. As a matter of fact, this nationalist movement has not stopped yet. Almost all of the wars that have happened in Europe can be directly linked with nationalism.

Nevertheless, what made Ataturk´s phrase meaningful was not the excessive nationalistic tone in it. On the contrary, he separated race from nationality. Turk is the name given to people living in and working for this country. He spent 15 years of his life for the purpose of creating an educated, dynamic and hardworking society. "Ne mutlu Türküm diyene" might actually be pointing out to the confidence he has in his people about the realization of his ideals.

Treacherous umbrella, would I by any chance get caught in that trap, if it didn´t cover my face like a mask.

Mistletoe = ökse otu in Turkish. They make a glue from its sap. Bird trappers smear this glue on a stick and attach it to a tree making it appear like a geniune twig. When a bird lands on it they catch it unharmed, put it in a cage and sell it to people. This profession must have been much more common in the past. Today, we come accross with these words in novels.

 Maybe Greeks would have a problem with that. I already feel we are very similar.

 What is this? The synopsis of a soap opera?

 I read somewhere that Mongolian genes are commonly present in Kazakhs and Uzbeks. In Turkey, the Mongolian gene is about as much as it is in the DNA of central and eastern Europeans. So, what lemon says makes sense. A further study indicated, Turkish gene pool comprised a mixture of all the neighboring countries. The least observed genes in Turks are the central Asian related ones.