E-Malt.com News article: Turkey: Government moves to restrict alcohol sales and ban advertising

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, the Wall Street Journal reported on May, 28.

Last Friday, May, 24, 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.

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, is quoted as saying.

Several alcohol companies said 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,” it is reported. 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%.


29 May, 2013