A French Lesson and...

The columnist opens by discussing two correction notices published in his column on Sept. 4, 2026, one from Sel Publishing and another from Eğitim Sen. He questions whether the authority accepting Eğitim Sen’s response should have requested his defense before issuing a decision, while acknowledging that he does not know the law.

Sel Publishing correctly says that “la truie” means “female pig” in Turkish, he writes. But he rejects the claim that the French word “le truisme,” meaning a known, indisputable or commonplace truth, derives from “la truie.” He says the word entered French from English in the mid-19th century and was written as “truism.”

The writer says he chose the Turkish title “Dişi Domuz” after being inspired by the contents of a book whose French title is “Truismes.” He says he did not take Sel Publishing to court over an alleged unauthorized use of his personally chosen title, which he describes as plagiarism. Instead, he objects that the publisher sent him a correction notice despite what he considers a valid argument.

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The world has no such country.

He then addresses Eğitim Sen’s response to his Cumhuriyet article “Başka emriniz efendim.” He says the words he used for teachers, “dangıl” and “güruh,” do not legally constitute the crime of humiliation, but adds that he can express regret if readers understood them as an insult.

The columnist also defends his claim that no nation-state uses a language other than its official language as its language of education. Zülküf Güneş, Eğitim Sen’s general secretary, had said that various countries use minority and regional languages in educational models. The columnist challenges him to name those countries and cites Article L121-3 of France’s Education Code, which he translates as making French compulsory for instruction, examinations, competitions, theses and dissertations in public and private educational institutions.

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Prove me wrong, Zülküf Güneş, and I will stop writing immediately.