ISTANBUL – The government in Turkey is making a move to restrict
alcohol sales and ban advertisements, which has alcohol producers worried and
secular Turks concerned that the government has an Islamist agenda, reports the
Wall Street Journal.
Last Friday, Parliament passed a bill that would ban retail alcohol
sales between the hours of 10 am and 6 pm, as well as completely ban alcohol
advertising and promotions of alcohol-related products.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the new regulations are
intended to bring Turkey in line with other “advanced economies” such as the
United States. "What is a state to do but protect its people, its youth
from bad habits?" Erdogan said. “We don't want a generation that's drunk
day and night."
Meanwhile, secular Turks are criticizing the new regulations, saying
the legislative package “builds on a series of restrictions” introduced by
Erdogan’s “Islamist-leaning Justice and Development Party, which swept to power
in 2002, ending the staunchly secularist military's decades long hold over
civilian politics,” writes the newspaper.
Some also say that the government's curb on alcohol follows a pattern —
such as failed attempts at more conservative uniforms and a ban on red lipstick
at Turkish Airlines — which could jeopardize its broad support over the past
five years.
Alcohol industry executives are saying that the new regulations are
targeting lifestyle choices. "At this point, human rights have been
curbed," Sibel Kutman, an executive at Doluca, one of Turkey's leading
winemakers, told the newspaper.
Several alcohol companies told the newspaper that Erdogan's government
had declined to meet with leaders from distillers, brewers and winemakers as it
drafted the legislation.
"We've been trying to contact the government to discuss the
proposed changes to the regulatory environment governing the promotion and
sales of alcohol in Turkey for a number of months now—pretty much one
year," said a spokeswoman at Diageo.
President Abdullah Gul is expected to sign the bill into law, which
means the restrictions could take effect soon — “a prospect that sent
shares in local brewers down,” writes the newspaper. When the news hit last
week, shares of Anadolu Efes, Turkey's biggest brewer, dropped 7.6% in
Istanbul. Shares in Tuborg, owned by the Danish brewer Carlsberg AS, fell 2%.