2 JUNE 2001, Page 32

Beastly to Turkey

From Mr Denis Hills

Sir: Philip Glazebrook's dismissive review (Books, 5 May) of Philippa Scott's Turkish Delight — 'Turkey,' he sneers, 'wherever you look into it, is not a pretty picture' — has rightly annoyed the Turkish ambassador (Letters, 19 May). Glazebrook's remarks, though, are to be expected. In his travel book Journey to Kars he found nothing good to say about Turkey — 'its shabbiness and disintegration . . . how the Turk coughs and spits . . . the flat, uncivil eyes . . . greasy food at a stained table'. 'The ogre of Europe's nightmares', as Glazebrook calls Turkey, still seems to live on in his mind.

Denis Hills

Richmond, Surrey