2 FEBRUARY 2008, Page 26

Wing and a prayer

Sir: Atatürk banned the call to prayer in Arabic throughout Turkey as long ago as 1932 (The Spectator’s Notes, 12 January). He decreed that it could henceforth only be in Turkish, Arabic being an alien language incomprehensible to Turks. He also banned the use of loudspeakers, microphones and recordings, and decreed that the person issuing the call to prayer should climb to the top of the minaret in order to do so — a considerably more strenuous task in the tall, elegant style of Turkish mosque architecture than in the squat Pakistani style adopted in Britain.

Osman Streater

London NW3