The ministry of stand-up comedy

Had the news text not been dispatched by the always serious, always meticulous, semi-official state news agency, Anadolu Agency (AA), I would have suspected it of being a set of misquotations at best and a hoax at worst. But AA's reporters are experienced enough to not misquote a cabinet minister so erroneously (and if they did misquote the minister, they should run a correction).

The news story reminded, once again, of the famous dictum that "Turkey is fun, unless you have to live there."

The setting was a parliamentary debate on the 2016 state budget. Date: Feb. 14. Venue: Parliament's planning and budget committee. Speaker: Defense Minister ?smet Y?lmaz (formerly parliamentary speaker, and further formerly, defense minister again).

During the colorful debate one MP, according to AA, asked Minister Y?lmaz if the Turkish Armed Forces was doing any work on UFOs (Unidentified Flying Objects).

The minister replied that "he had no information on this subject." So, since he did not fully deny it, the Turkish Armed Forces may actually be working on UFOs. Good luck to the military top brass. After pointing out that he did not have any information on Project UFO, Minister Y?lmaz immediately added: "But work on the [national] space agency has been submitted to the cabinet for ministers' signatures." The minister's message in two lines: We may not be working hard on UFOs but we are working hard on our national space agency. Maybe a future program should merge the space agency with Project UFO? 

During the same parliamentary debate Minister Y?lmaz also said that a batch of four Royal Saudi Air Force "F-16" fighter jets would soon arrive at the ?ncirlik air base in southern Turkey. 

Good news, except that the Royal Saudi Air...