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Shopping before the lockdown: The sale of alcohol in Turkey is banned until May 17th
Photo: ERDEM SAHIN / EPA
The corona situation in Turkey is dramatic.
In the fight against the pandemic, the country is now closing.
A three-week lockdown will apply from this Thursday evening.
If you want to take to the streets, you need a valid reason.
Shopping is included.
The Turkish aniseed schnapps raki may not end up in the shopping basket during this time.
For the tough lockdown, there is a ban on the sale of alcohol across the country.
Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu announced this on Tuesday.
The "Tekel" kiosks are likely to be particularly affected by this ban.
In addition to tobacco, they mainly sell alcoholic beverages.
According to Soylu, there should not be an exemption to be allowed to open despite the lockdown for these stores.
“These stores aren't on the exception list, they're closed.
There's no question mark behind it, ”he said, according to media reports.
Critics suspect ideological reasons behind the ban
The nationwide ban on the sale of alcohol has met with sharp criticism.
In the social networks, some users consider the measure to be unconstitutional.
Others ask about the sense of the sales ban in the fight against Corona - and suspect ideological reasons behind the measure.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his AKP party, as representatives of the Islamic-conservative spectrum, are close to the alcohol ban in the Muslim faith.
The deputy head of the opposition party CHP, Veli Ağbaba, sees this as the real reason for the measure.
“This ban has nothing to do with the corona pandemic.
That is purely ideological.
It is the last link in the chain how the AKP interferes in the lifestyle of the citizens, ”wrote Ağbaba on Twitter.
"Our national drink is Ayran"
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
In fact, the Erdoğan government has repeatedly targeted alcohol consumption in the country over the past few years.
"Our national drink is Ayran," Erdoğan once said, positioning himself against all those who ascribe this title to raki.
Adulterated alcohol business is flourishing
The question of the national drink has not been finally clarified, but the government has ensured in recent years that raki is increasingly becoming a luxury good.
Since 2010 the taxes on the aniseed schnapps have been increased by more than 400 percent.
Here too, critics suspect ideological reasons.
At the same time, the high taxes help to fill gaps in the national budget.
The Turkish economy has been in crisis for a long time.
So far, however, the Turks have not been deterred from drinking, and the trade in adulterated alcohol is flourishing.
Again and again it comes to poisoning by black-distilled spirits, sometimes with fatal consequences.
It remains to be seen whether the lockdown measure will have a negative impact on these statistics.
The well-known director Murat Şeker believes that the sales ban could have encouraged his compatriots to buy hamsters in advance.
"People will stockpile the alcohol and then keep drinking," he tweeted, saying the wine and liquor sales will likely break all records before the lockdown begins.
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