Turkish Forum

Tag: Ayran

  • 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 —

    Advertisement

    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.

  • Prime Minister Causes Stir Over Turkey’s Top Tipple

    Prime Minister Causes Stir Over Turkey’s Top Tipple

    Is it Lion’s Milk or Cow’s Milk? That’s the question many Turks are asking after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan made another foray into the nation’s drinking habits late on Friday.

    TU-AA924_0426ta_G_20130426100338

    Is it Lion’s Milk or Cow’s Milk?

    That’s the question many Turks are asking after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan made another foray into the nation’s drinking habits late on Friday.

    Speaking at the global alcohol policy symposium in Istanbul, the Prime Minister, a devout Muslim known for a distaste of alcohol, said Turkey’s national drink was Ayran, a salty yoghurt drink made from Cow’s Milk.

    That sparked the ire of many secular Turks who have long held that the nation’s top tipple is Raki, an alcoholic drink known as lion’s milk and favorite of modern Turkey’s founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

    Prime Minister Erdogan did not specifically mention Raki, but lamented how beer and other alcoholic drinks had been encouraged during the early days of the Republic when Ataturk’s administration reoriented Turkey towards the west after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.

    “In a single party government, alcohol promotion was turned into such an exaggerated propaganda that billboards were put up in the restaurants. It was said that alcohol is useful,” Mr. Erdogan was quoted as saying by state-run news agency Anadolu. “Moreover in the first years of Republic alcoholic drink beer was unfortunately introduced as a national drink in some books. However our national drink is ayran…Alcohol offers no benefits to a society,” he said.

    The power of Mr. Erdogan, who has won three consecutive elections and is known to be eyeing a run for Turkey’s president, was illustrated by the market reaction to the speech. Shares in PinarSut Mamulleri, Turkey’s largest listed dairy producer, immediately jumped 3% higher on the comments. Shares in Turkey’s largest beer manufacturer Anadolu Efes were unmoved on the news but were 2% higher than the opening price.

    Data from Turkey’s statistics agency suggests that Ayran has some distance to travel before taking the top prize. 2012 numbers shows that consuption of Ayran, a drink wildly popular in Turkish speaking countries but often maligned by foreigners for its salty taste, was 442,000 tonnes in 2012. Consumption of Beer in the Turkish market was 998,000 tonnes according to data from Turkey’s Alcohol Regulator.

    News of the speech immediately generated a vigorous debate among Turks on social media, underscoring how the issue of alcohol remains emblematic of the polarization betweenTurkey’s observant Muslims and secular masses.

    Mr. Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party has long promised an Islam-infused democracy and has sought to rehabilitate a conservative Ottoman legacy long-discredited for decades during an iron-fisted secular rule. Many secular-minded Turks think the ruling party is systematically undermining the founding principles of theTurkishRepublicin order to make the country more religious.

    Friday’s intervention over alcohol is reminiscent over a thorny debate in February over news Turkish Airlines, one of the world’s fastest-growing carriers would change attendant’s uniforms and ban alcohol on an undetermined number of flights. That news brought allegations from commentators that the company was dramatically reorienting its culture as a result of political pressure fromTurkey’s islamist-rooted ruling Justice and Development Party. Turkish Airlines sought to quell criticism by stressing that it would only ban alcohol on domestic flights and on eight overseas routes to Islamic countries where the local carriers operated the same ‘dry’ policy.

    For many Turks, debates which speak to the country’s divisions are flaring then fizzling, with increasing regularity.