The Leahy Lounge

In a show of irreproachable morality and unflinching dedication to grammatical mores, Turkey has put a stop to the nefarious and destructive letters Q and W. The case was many years in the making, but authorities uncovered evidence that Q and W have wasted countless sums of taxpayer money on scented tobacco, elaborate porcelain hookas, and are behind the notoriously crippling devaluation of the Turkish Lira.

The heroic turkish bureau at Reuters has the gruesome details:

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) -- A Turkish court has fined 20 people for using the letters Q and W on placards at a Kurdish new year celebration, under a law that bans use of characters not in the Turkish alphabet, rights campaigners said.

The court in the southeastern city of Siirt fined each of the 20 people 100 new lira ($75.53) for holding up the placards, written in Kurdish, at the event last year. The letters Q and W do not exist in the Turkish alphabet.