Turkish Forum

Tag: alcohol restrictions

  • Turkey to ban alcohol at Gallipoli

    Turkey is looking to crack down on boozy Aussies and Kiwis at Gallipoli by banning alcohol in the historic area.

    Turkish politicians have backed plans to ban alcohol for Aussies and Kiwis at the Gallipoli site. (AAP)

     

    Turkish politicians have backed plans to ban alcohol for Australians and New Zealanders who come every year to honour those killed in the World War I Gallipoli campaign.

    Thousands of Antipodeans, many of them young backpackers, gather every April at the historic Gallipoli peninsula to honour their ancestors killed in the 1915 battle of Gallipoli.

    A parliamentary committee on Wednesday voted in favour of a bill introduced by the Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) that would change the status of the Gallipoli peninsula from a national park to a historical area, where consuming alcoholic drinks is strictly banned.

    The bill still needs to be passed by parliament, but the AKP holds a comfortable majority there, a parliamentary source told AFP.

    The dawn ceremony on April 25 marks the first ANZAC landings at the Gallipoli peninsula in the ill-fated Allied campaign to take the Dardanelles Strait from the Ottoman Empire.

    In the ensuing eight months of fighting, about 11,500 ANZAC troops were killed, fighting alongside British, Indian and French soldiers.

    Close to 4500 people made the journey this year for the commemorations, with many spending a boozy night on the beach as they waited for the moment the first shots were fired.

    The proposed bill imposes a fine of 5000 Turkish liras ($A2600) against offenders who drink alcohol outside licensed venues.

    The AKP, which has angered secular Turks by restricting alcohol sales, said the move was in keeping with global standards.

    “We just want to follow the international standards in the ceremony, which is attended by the leaders of 39 countries every year,” Culture Minister Omer Celik said, without elaborating.

    But Ali Saribas, from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), accused the government of not respecting the culture of people “who come all the way from Australia”.

    “Drinking wine is part of their culture, it’s their heritage. But the government has no respect for it,” he told AFP.

    “I am sure they can find a way of allowing people to make their commemorations as they want, but I doubt they will.

    “These people have been coming here for years and have never bothered the locals. They will either stop coming or try to cover their wine or beer bottles, which will make Turkey look very ridiculous,” he said.

    via Turkey to ban alcohol at Gallipoli | SBS News.

  • Debate over national drink reveals Turkey’s Muslim-secular split

    Debate over national drink reveals Turkey’s Muslim-secular split

    Debate over national drink reveals Turkey’s Muslim-secular split

    By Jonathan Burch, Reuters

    ANKARA — If you are looking for one sure way to split public opinion in Turkey, just bring up the word alcohol.

    That is what Turkey’s often divisive prime minister did late on Friday when he pronounced that the national drink was not beer, nor the aniseed spirit raki — choice tipple of Turkey’s founding father — but the non-alcoholic yoghurt drink ayran.

    Given the setting of his speech — a symposium on global alcohol policy in Istanbul — Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s comments appeared far from controversial, but so sensitive is the topic that the mere mention of it by the pious leader, known for his dislike of alcohol, has Turkey’s secularists up in arms.

    During the single-party rule of the Turkish Republic’s early years by what is now the country’s main —

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    and staunchly secularist — opposition party, state promotion of alcohol amounted to propaganda, Erdogan said.

    “Beer was unfortunately presented as a national drink. However, our national drink is ayran,” he said, referring to the staple lunchtime refreshment of yoghurt, water and salt, usually swilled down with a meaty kebab.

    “There is no way you can defend as a lifestyle the consumption of alcohol which has no benefit to society, but on the contrary inflicts harm,” Erdogan continued.

    No sooner had he made his remarks, broadcast live on television, than social media lit up with derisive comments symptomatic of the gaping divide between Turkey’s conservative Muslims on the one hand and secularists on the other.

    “It’s true, all of you drink ayran with your pasta inside your mosques,” read one comment directed at Erdogan’s official Twitter account.

    “We take example from our FOREFATHER who drank our National Drink: raki,” the message continued, referring to Turkey’s founder, soldier-statesman Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who was often photographed with a glass of the anisette spirit in hand.

    “Erdogan, will you do a shot of ayran with me?” taunted another user on Twitter, while others lamented the prime minister’s intrusion into their lives: “What’s it to you what the nation drinks? You go drink ayran. Leave me alone.”

    SECULAR UNEASE

    Behind the jibes lies a deeper unease among Erdogan’s opponents who say his government, which has its roots in political Islam, is eroding the secular foundation of modern Turkey, not least through its policies on alcohol.

    Erdogan’s government has imposed some of the highest consumption taxes on alcohol in the world, and under its tenure an increasing number of municipalities have imposed restrictions on drinking in public as well as on national advertising.

    Most recently it banned alcohol sales on all domestic and some international flights of its national carrier.

    The government says it is not attempting to interfere in people’s lives and is simply trying to bring the country up to European norms by controlling alcohol sales and protecting the younger generation as it negotiates to enter the European Union.

    But unlike Western countries, which also impose restrictions, Turkey does not have an alcohol problem. Only six percent of Turkish households consumed alcoholic drinks in 2008, down from eight percent in 2003, according to the Betam research centre at Istanbul’s Bahcesehir University.

    For many Turks it is simply the prime minister’s authoritarian style they have an issue with. Often brusque in manner, Erdogan can come across as a stern father, also lecturing people on the dangers of cigarettes and even suggesting how many children families should have.

    But in a country where Erdogan has dominated politics virtually unchallenged for the past decade, his word is final. Shares in Turkey’s top listed dairy producer Pinar Sut, which makes ayran, rose 3 percent shortly after Erdogan’s remarks.

    via Debate over national drink reveals Turkey’s Muslim-secular split – San Jose Mercury News.

  • Turkey’s Creeping Alcohol Ban Reaches New Heights

    Turkey’s Creeping Alcohol Ban Reaches New Heights

    A Turkish Airlines Boeing 737 is seen through a window of another passenger plane at the airport in the Mediterranean coastal city of Antalya

    A Turkish Airlines Boeing 737 is seen through a window of another passenger plane at the airport in the Mediterranean coastal city of Antalya Aug. 9, 2007. (photo by REUTERS/Fatih Saribas)

    By: Kadri Gursel for Al-Monitor Turkey Pulse. Posted on February 19.

    The neo-Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP) that has ruled Turkey for more than 10 years, parallel to boosting its strength and effectiveness, has for a while also been pursuing a multi-phase campaign to exclude alcohol consumption from public life and make it invisible.

    About This Article

    Summary :

    Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party’s campaign to ban alcohol has now reached Turkish Airlines, writes Kadri Gursel.

    Original Title:
    Turkey’s Stealth Alcohol Ban Now Reaches Skies
    Author: Kadri Gursel
    Translated by: Timur Goksel

    None of the underhanded alcohol bans systematically expanded over the years were ever justified on religious grounds. Rather, the justification for banning alcohol sales and consumption has always been to protect public health and public order.

    The latest example of these stealthy moves comes as the national Turkish Airlines (THY) stops serving alcoholic drinks in all its domestic business-class flights, apart from those to six particluar destinations. Alcohol was already unavailable on domestic economy-class flights.

    As usual, the latest ban was justified by officials on non-religious grounds. The chairman of the THY executive board, Hamdi Topcu, said in a statement published by Radikal on Feb. 19 that abolishing alcohol service was “purely for economic reasons.” A communiqué issued by THY on Feb. 13 had announced that alcohol service in business-class flights was being eliminated because of “low demand and logistical reasons.”

    Of 36 domestic flights, 16 offer business-class service. The destinations of 10 out of the 16 flights now without alcohol service are conservative Anatolian cities where alcohol has been practically banned for a long time.

    Alongside the alcohol ban in domestic flights, it was announced that the number of THY international flights that will not serve alcohol have increased from two to eight since the beginning of the year. The first two countries were Iran and Saudi Arabia, where there is a strict ban on alcohol. To these two countries were added the destinations of Karachi and Islamabad in Pakistan, Cairo and Alexandria in Egypt, Baghdad and Erbil in Iraq, Mogadishu in Somalia, Dakar in Senegal and Niamey in Niger. THY gave the reason for expanding the list as a “’requests by concerned countries.’’

    Alcohol is freely available in some of these countries, fully banned in some and partially banned in others.

    In Turkey, there is no question of banning the sale of alcohol and its consumption in all parts of the country. No such move is to be expected anytime soon. But since the AKP took over power in the central government and local administrations, it has been implementing a gradual “salami-slice” strategy against the sale and consumption of alcohol in public spaces.

    A citizen of the Turkish Republic who enjoys shooting the breeze over a couple glasses of wine or raki with friends after work now has a diminishing number of locations and even towns where he can do that.

    Turkey has had alcohol-free provincial towns for a long time. In the Black Sea region and inland towns governed by local AKP administrations, there is no question of alcohol sales in public spaces. You can drink only in bars and restaurants of five-star hotels. One reason for this is the social pressure imposed by conservative circles, and the other is the bureaucratic pressure applied by the AKP, which utilizes public-administration tools and privileges to curb alcohol consumption.

    For the first time, in 2011, just before the month of Ramadan, Istanbul banned pubs and restaurants from serving alcohol in the city’s cosmopolitan leisure center Beyoglu (formerly Pera) from putting tables on sidewalks, under the pretext of obstructing pedestrian and vehicle traffic. This was a step to make alcohol consumption invisible during Ramadan.

    In April 2012, for the first time ever, the governor of the inland province of Afyon issued an edict declaring consumption of alcohol in spaces open to the public “indefinitely prohibited.” Only after the public’s reaction was the step scaled back, applying “only to parks.”

    Forcing alcohol-serving facilities to move to outside of Anatolian towns was already a widespread practice. In 2012, we witnessed the ban of alcoholic-beverage sales in the restaurant of the Grand National Assembly. In 2012 sale of alcohol and its consumption were banned in university campuses. In July, beer sales in a music festival sponsored by a beer company at an Istanbul university campus were banned shortly before the festival was to begin, through direct intervention by the government.

    Government officials admit that there is no alcoholism problem in Turkey. Nevertheless, it is impossible to justify the government’s persistence in trying to declare it an illegal commodity as an effort to protect public health. Protecting public health has nothing to do with stopping serving of alcoholic drinks in official state functions and at high-level diplomatic receptions.

    It is all about the government and the state’s new Islamist/conservative masters imposing their politicized beliefs on others and thus building a new exclusionist and intolerant political culture.

    The same goes for banning alcohol in most of THY’s domestic flights, but there is also a socio-economic dimension to this. Social pressure is now working on business-class travel.

    It is generally the AKP elite who uses the business-class in flights to Turkey’s stiffly conservative cities, where it is impossible to drink in public spaces. This elite is the AKP ministers, members of parliament, provincial party heads, governors, senior officials and businessmen of the conservative bourgeoisie, who are labeled “Anatolian tigers.”

    These powerful people who support alcohol bans or approve of them in their towns tend to become visibly irritated if a passenger sitting next them asks for a glass of wine and begins to sip it. Complaints and even direct interventions are common. Social pressure works because this intolerance corresponds to the conservative political culture that is prevailing in the country.

    The six THY flights on which alcohol is still served are to Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Antalya, Bodrum and Dalaman. These are the cities and regions that are open to the world and to tourism, without serious problems with a liberal lifestyle. The powers that be do not yet have the power to ban alcohol on these flights, but THY no longer deserves to use its “Globally Yours” slogan on all its flights.

    Kadri Gürsel is a contributing writer for Al-Monitor‘s Turkey Pulse and has written a column for the Turkish daily Milliyet since 2007. He focuses primarily on Turkish foreign policy, international affairs and Turkey’s Kurdish question, as well as Turkey’s evolving political Islam.

    Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/02/turkey-alcohol-ban-turkish-airlines-akp-islamist.html#ixzz2LQt1dPN4

  • Red Hot Chilli Peppers satisfy Turkish fans despite concert venue with alchohol ban

    Red Hot Chilli Peppers satisfy Turkish fans despite concert venue with alchohol ban

    Red Hot Chilli Peppers satisfy Turkish fans despite concert venue with alchohol ban

    rhcp istanbul concert nationalturk 0455

    Red Hot Chilli Peppers managed to satisfy Turkish fans despite venue with alchohol ban, RHCP bassist suggested the audience to consider themselves very lucky to be able to hear islamic prayer five times a day. RHCP Istanbul concert sounds like an islamistic event! except twas not

    Istanbul / NationalTurk – Red Hot Chilli Peppers gave their long-awaited Istanbul concert this weekend. Santralistanbul hosted Red Hot Chili Peppers Istanbul consert with an audience of 42,000 despite the alcohol ban in the controversiel venue after controversial ban decision.

    Istanbul’s controversial concert venue Santralistanbul hosted the long-awaited U.S. band Red Hot Chili Peppers last Saturday in front of 42.000 viewers despite the overpriced tickets.

    Red Hot Chilli Peppers greeted the Istanbul audience with ‘ Monarchy,’ as expected, the US band played hits from their ‘Blood Sugar Sex Magik,’ “Californication,” and “By The Way,” albums, as well as new singles from their last album “I’m With You.”

    The band hosted famous Turkish saxophonist İlhan Erşahin, who played a brief solo on stage. The band’s leading man Antony Kiedis was quiet but energetic bassist Flea filled his void. Flea had beef with some Turkish twitter users, after he had declared via Twitter that he has a ‘celebrity crush’ on the star of the Turkish women’s volleyball team, Neslihan Darnel.

    Red Hot Chilli Basist Flea obviously had one to many drinks !

    Flea shouted from the stage to express his pleasure of ezan,call to prayer in Islam, suggesting the audience to consider themselves very lucky to be able to hear that beautiful prayer five times a day. The closure of the nearly two hour show was with the band’s leading hit “Give It Away” and the closing message came from Flea who invited the audience to support music which was “the voice of people from all over the world.”

    RHCP Istanbul Concert : Alcohol ban casts long shadows

    And what the concert goers were doing yesterday night was nothing but supporting the music and local events despite the unpleasant conditions due to the alcohol ban in the arena which is the main campus of the Istanbul Bilgi University.

    By the way, Turkish volleyball star Neslihan Darnel was not among the 42000 Red Hot Chilli Peppers, despite being invited by RHCP personally with her husband. She said, she did not want the nasty rumours going nastier by going to a concert of her favourite band. Congrats twitter, congrats ignorant Turks, who made a simple and naive celebrity crush declaration a matter of honor.

    Red Hot Chilli Peppers arrived in Israel after their Istanbul concert.

    via Red Hot Chilli Peppers satisfy Turkish fans despite concert venue with alchohol ban.

  • Is Alcohol Apartheid Coming to Istanbul?

    Is Alcohol Apartheid Coming to Istanbul?

    by Dorian Jones
    Trilling 5196
    A waitress serves beer in one of Istanbul’s cafes. Though the city is known for its vibrant nightlife and entertainment, some districts controlled by the Islamist-rooted AKP are largely off-limits for serving alcohol. (Photo: David Trilling)

    The Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which concludes August 18, can be a time of heightened friction in Istanbul, when the beliefs of the pious clash with the lifestyle preferences of secular-minded Turks. This year, Ramadan has been marked by a secularist outcry over recent efforts to restrict the consumption of alcohol.

    Tension erupted over a two-day international rock concert at Istanbul Bilgi University in mid-July that kicked off just before Ramadan began. Just half an hour before the concert an alcohol ban was enforced by University authorities under pressure from the Islamist-rooted ruling AK Party. Ironically the “One Love” concert was sponsored by the country’s largest beer producer, but the thousands of parched rockers had to make do with lemonade and water instead.

    The decision provoked an uproar. “This is not a battle about alcohol, but about freedom” wrote a leading columnist, Hasan Cemal, in the Milliyet newspaper on July 17. A nationwide debate ensued during the weeks of Ramadan over thedirection of the country, and, in particular, its largest city, Istanbul.

    The concert was held in the Eyup District of the city, which has a large religious community where Ramadan is strictly observed. The local authorities, dominated by the AK Party, defended the ban, citing the religious sensitivities of the locals. Yet in reality, local sensitivities in Eyup seem mixed.

    “People in the neighborhood organized a petition to stop alcohol being sold at the concert,” said a 40-year-old shopkeeper, who is fasting. “But I didn’t sign it. Because I don’t believe you should interfere in other people’s lives.” A woman dressed in religious garb interjected, “This is a predominantly Muslim area. So the ban was necessary out of respect for us.”

    Representatives of the pro-secular main opposition People’s Republican Party (CHP) in the Eyup District, sees the alcohol ban at the concert as part of a wider policy extending beyond Ramadan. The objective is to turn Eyup into a “dry” neighborhood, citing the closing down of the few remaining alcohol outlets. “Neighborhood pressure by religious people and the religiously controlled local authority are having a growing effect on secular locals,” warned Inan Celiker a local CHP party official. “It’s pushing people to drink illegally in the back of shops.”

    “Neighborhood pressure,” a phrase coined by one of the country’s leading sociologists, Serif Mardin, is becoming a major factor in the civic debate. Mardin maintains that more than any deliberate policy by the Islamic-oriented government, pressure in areas where the majority are pious, forces secular people to adopt a more religious way of life.

    The devout Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has waded into the controversy. “They want all our youth to be alcoholics. What on earth is this? I told the university authorities we were upset over the festival. For Allah’s sake, how can this occur? Can anyone allow alcohol to be sold on a school campus? Will the student go there to get drunk on alcohol or find knowledge?” Erdogan declared during a late July television interview.

    Following that verbal broadside, Istanbul Bilgi University authorities announced that alcohol would no longer be served at future concerts on campus.

    Istanbul is home to some of Islam’s most important mosques, along with a large pious Muslim population. But it’s also famous for its vibrant nightlife with its bars and restaurants that have long been part of the city’s fabric. Meyhane restaurants serving tasty tapas-like dishes, accompanied by the national drink of raki, a potent aniseed spirit, date back to the 19th century.

    And fears are growing that Istanbul’s delicate balance is reaching a tipping point.

    Even in areas long associated with foreigners and Western ways, pressure is mounting against those who like to consume alcohol. On the night of August 14, for instance, Beyoglu authorities removed bar and restaurant signs, claiming that such signage was incongruent with the historical appearance of the area. “In Beyoglu, they [authorities] don’t say [anything] directly, but the right to drink alcohol in public places is diminishing, and that is an entertainment area,” said Gokhan Tan, a media studies teacher at Istanbul Bilgi University.

    While neighborhoods controlled by AKP members are tightening restrictions on alcohol, in sectors of the city controlled by the pro-secular CHP there’s been an explosion in the number of bars, in particular meyhanes. In the Kadikoy district on the Asian side of Istanbul, for example, dozens of bars and restaurants have opened in the space of a year. People sit drinking beer and raki and eating day and night, even during the holy month of Ramadan. A significant number of people are willing to commute to such neighborhoods in order to enjoy a drink. “It’s 25 km from here to where I live. But I can’t drink in my neighborhood, so I come all the way here for alcohol. Does that make sense to you?” one customer at a Kadikoy bar said.

    Influential Islamic intellectual Hayrettin Karaman sees voluntary segregation as a way to defuse tension over Istanbul’s different ways of life. “Those who don’t believe in Islam can freely live according to their own beliefs. But if this kind of living will negatively affect the life, morality, religiousness and the education of new Muslim generations, measures need to be taken to create ‘special regions’ for their improper actions,” Karaman wrote August 12 in the Islamic Daily Yeni Safak.

    “Now, we live with many people side by side in an apartment building, on a street, in a neighborhood, from gays to drunks, to unmarried couples,” Karaman continued. “A Muslim won’t like these actions, they hate them and if there is opportunity, he keeps the intention to correct and prevent these actions.”

    For Tan, the Bilgi university professor, Karaman’s words are a depressing, but a prophetic prediction for the future of Istanbul. He fears voluntary segregation is already replacing tolerance.
    “We feel that our lives are being confined to parts of the city, this is your area and this your area,” Tan said. “It’s not a good thing, we are all the same people, but we can have different feelings, different beliefs and different lives. We live in the same city, but why should I restrict myself to only my neighborhood.”

    Editor’s note:

    Dorian Jones is a freelance reporter based in Istanbul.

  • Istanbul Alcohol Ban Divides Secular, Religious Residents

    The sunset in Istanbul, Turkey, October 19, 2011 (file photo).

    Dorian Jones

    August 16, 2012

    ISTANBUL — A last-minute decision to ban alcohol at an international rock festival in Istanbul has provoked a heated debate between religious and secular residents. The debate is taking place during the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, traditionally a testing time for the diverse city, famed for both its historical mosques and vibrant nightlife. The controversy also reveals wider concerns for the future of the city.

    The pious and the secular clashed head-on at a recent rock music concert at Istanbul Bilgi University. The all-day event was sponsored by Turkey’s leading beer producer, but a late decision resulted in a prohibition on alcohol. Thousands of parched music fans instead had to make do with lemonade and water.

    The concert was held in the Eyup district of the city, which has a large religious community where Ramadan is strictly followed. Local authorities, dominated by the ruling Islamic-rooted AK party, defended the ban, citing the religious sensitivities of the locals.

    Disagreement over alcohol-ban decision

    Others didn’t agree with the decision. One man said that people in the neighborhood organized a petition to stop alcohol from being sold at the concert, but he did not sign it because he does not believe you should interfere in other peoples’ lives.

    A woman disagreed. Since it’s a predominantly Muslim area, she said, the ban was necessary out of respect for residents.

    Many of the country’s leading newspaper columnists have criticized the ban. “This is not a battle about alcohol, but about freedom,” wrote leading columnist Hasan Cemal of the newspaper Milliyet.

    But Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose AK party is Islamist-dominated, proudly declared he was behind the decision to ban alcohol at the concert.

    “They want all our youth to be alcoholics. What on earth is this? I told the university authorities we were upset over the festival,” he said. “For Allah’s sake, how can this occur?”

    Tolerance hangs in balance

    Istanbul is home to some of Islam’s most important mosques, but it also is famous for its thriving party scene, with bars and restaurants that date back centuries. At one restaurant, tasty tapas-like dishes are served alongside the national drink of raki – a potent aniseed spirit.

    Gokhan Tan of Istanbul Bilgi University worries that the delicate balance of the city is changing.

    “First, Uskudar district – the mayor – told that we are not going to sell alcohol, then we see other places, especially in Beyoglu. They don’t say it directly, but the right to drink alcohol in public places is diminishing and it’s an entertainment area. And they say that it is a unique place and it must be conserved. These are the municipalities of the ruling party.”

    In neighborhoods controlled by the center-left party, however, there has been an explosion in the number of bars and restaurants.

    Change underway

    In the Kadikoy district, which is on the Asian side of Istanbul, dozens of bars and restaurants have opened in the space of a year. People sit drinking and eating day and night, even during the holy month of Ramadan. And there is an awareness that the city is undergoing a transformation of sorts.

    One man said that it is 25 kilometers from the Kadikoy district to where he lives, but he can not drink in his neighborhood, so he travels to the Kadikoy district for alcohol. He said that it does not make sense.

    A well-known Islamist columnist has suggested that secular and religious people should live in separate quarters.

    For Tan of Istanbul Bilgi University, that’s a depressing prospect.

    “We feel that our lives are divided into parts, this is your area and this your area, is not a good thing. We are all the same people. We can have different feelings, different beliefs and different lives. We live in the same city, but why should I restrict myself to only ‘my’ neighborhood,” asks Tan.

    Istanbul is home to more than 15 million people – nearly a quarter of the country’s population. And, in many ways, it is a reflection of it. If voluntary segregation replaces tolerance, experts warn that could be a worrying sign not just for the future of Istanbul, but all of Turkey.

    via Istanbul Alcohol Ban Divides Secular, Religious Residents.