These restrictions on alcohol are all part of Turkey’s broader re-adoption of Sharia. “O you who have believed, indeed, intoxicants, gambling, stone altars and divining arrows are but defilement from the work of Satan, so avoid it that you may be successful.” (Qur’an 5:90)
But remember: if you suggest that Sharia may not be compatible with the principles of a free society, you’re a racist, bigoted “Islamophobe.”
“Turkey clamps down on alcohol as Erdogan pushes Islamist agenda,” by Momoko Kidera, Nikkei Asia, May 29, 2021 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):
ISTANBUL — Turkey, once a fiercely secular republic, is stepping up restrictions on alcohol as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan tries to place Islam at the heart of national politics and steer the overwhelmingly Muslim country toward the Middle East and away from Europe and the U.S.
On April 29, the Turkish government imposed a nearly three-week nationwide lockdown and ban on alcohol sales through the end of Ramadan. Even at grocery stores allowed to operate during the period, liquor sections were sealed off with tape notifying customers that the corner has been temporarily closed by government order.
Many people rushed to buy liquor before the lockdown. An employee at a midsize winery in the western region of Thrace said it had received telephone inquiries about delivery from about 30 customers. “I guess we have never sold so much alcohol during Ramadan,” she said.
The lockdown ended May 17, but the government will keep the weekend curfews and alcohol ban through the end of the month. Many Turks question the effectiveness of the ban on drinking at home as an antivirus measure and criticize the move as undue meddling in private lives.
Since taking power in 2002, the Islamist ruling Justice and Development Party has clamped down on alcohol. The government has increased related taxes over the years and in 2013 passed a law banning alcohol ads and sales at liquor stores after 10 p.m. It also prohibits makers and sellers of alcohol from sponsoring sports events.
And these are only the visible measures. Although more than 150,000 stores, including supermarkets, sell alcohol in Turkey, over the past few years it has become increasingly difficult to obtain permission to open new stores to sell liquor, said Ozgur Aybas, head of a liquor store association that opposes government restrictions. In some conservative regions, local authorities turn down stores’ applications, saying alcohol is a sin.
Erdogan is a pious Muslim known for his dislike of alcohol. “The president may be trying to turn Turkey into a place like Dubai, United Arab Emirates, which allows alcohol consumption only among non-Muslim foreigners,” said Aybas, echoing similar views in the industry.
Although Turkey is a Muslim-majority country, it has a rich drinking culture and produces a wide variety of alcoholic beverages, including beer, wine and raki, the country’s signature spirit. Drinking became legal soon after the Republic of Turkey was established in 1923. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey and a hard drinker, helped establish a state-owned winery.
Ataturk — who regarded Islamic politics and society as the primary obstacle — pushed for Westernization with a focus on the separation of state and religion. While some see Turkey as a Middle Eastern country, international organizations and Western media often regard it as part of Europe. Turkey is a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and was named as a candidate for EU accession in 1999.
Erdogan has been trying to reverse the country’s secularization. Last year, the government converted Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia, a World Heritage site secularized by Ataturk in 1934, into a mosque, and this past March it announced a withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention, an international accord designed to protect women from violence.
Diplomatically, Turkey has actively engaged in the Palestinian issue as a Muslim country, and its EU accession has been practically put on hold.
The current move to tighten alcohol regulations is part of Erdogan’s effort to promote Islam and traditional values. When the tougher law was introduced in 2013, Erdogan implicitly criticized Ataturk and his longtime ally Ismet Inonu by saying, “Given that a law made by the two drunkards is respected, why should a law that is commanded by religion be rejected by your side?”…
born saturday says
the modern ottomaniac empire chalifate people have to live without a lot more than alcohol with 250 dollars a month each and i am sure that the law will affect the few most prominent ones who can afford to buy alcohol… despite their physical hunger they are more hungry for ottomaniac expansionist dreams and illusions most, than be worried about food they lack….. true slaves of satan they are deprived of many earthly goods but not that of hatred and bloodthirst which come in abundance in satan worshipping countries of islam…..
gary fouse says
Too bad. Efes Pilzen is a great beer that goes great with Turkish food.
mortimer says
There is always the possibility that Turkish drinkers will give the fanatics a backlash.
Wellington says
So, Erdogan does not like alcohol and thus no one else should be free to drink it. Mohammed not only did not like alcohol but music either—and so music is haram as well. Ditto for pork products, iconophile productions, etc. But the rape of non-Muslim women per the Koran in such Suras as 4, 23, and 33 is halal. How effing disgusting and sick can you get?
To anyone with half a brain, it should be overwhelmingly obvious that the putrid religion that emerged out of the barren Arabian peninsula in the seventh century AD (and, may I say here, screw the BCE and CE politically correct acronyms) is replete with control-freak restrictions that are indicative of, yes indeed, a totalitarian mentality (N.B., totalitarianism and control-freak behavior go very well together).
Helps to explain, let’s see here, why there has been no Beethoven or Mozart produced by the Islamic world, no great wineries or breweries too. Also no Michelangelo type, and no David Humes or Thomas Jeffersons as well. And most certainly no truly free societies either, never mind the incapacity to originate something like the scientific method, which is unique to the West, as is a technological legacy not even remotely comparable to what Islamic society produced or any non-Western society produced, though such Western legacy is being “copied” by various non-free societies like those in the Islamic world and in China to destroy the West—talk about effing parasites, no?
Islam is almost a perfect prescription for both control-freak behavior and the closing of the mind. It is the high maintenance religion of religions and high maintenance anything or anyone is always a royal pain-in-the ass. Surely—most certainly—a no-brainer here, Islam is the quintessential pain-in-the ass religion, which goes hand-in-hand with it being, as I have asserted in previous posts, the turd in the punch bowl of world religions.
Erdogan is a jerk and killer most surely, but far worse is that he is symptomatic of what can be expected whenever Islam is “exerted” with “enthusiasm.” All part of the reason why I detest Islam, which is the ultimate fake religion and whose deity, Allah, does not exist, whose chief “holy book” is a hate manual, and whose reputed founder was a wacko, brutal and narcissistic psychopath (albeit it very clever) who has fraud written all over him.
Screw Mohammed. Screw Islam. And screw continued apologies for Islam, whether by Buttlims or dhimmis. Sick of this garbage. Hell, why isn’t most everyone by now? A mystery indeed.
James Lincoln says
Wellington,
I was in the grocery store the other day getting ready to buy a pork chop.
I had this sinking feeling that in the near future, a muslim may approach me and say something like: “You can’t buy that because it is against my religion.”
I would reply: “But it’s not against my religion”.
And then he would say: “But my religion is the one that counts.”
Wellington says
Perfectly understandable that sinking feeling, James.
And may I say thanks to all you so-called moderate Muslims out there who continue to give cover to the absolutely worst religion of all time. Much appreciated.
Infidel says
James
I’m not a gun owner – couldn’t hit the side of a barn – but if such a day arrived, I’d start shopping and getting trained. Then if anyone dared approach me, I’d point to it and say, ‘…and it’s your problem b’cos???’ while tapping the firearm
Gun sales went thru the roof under Obama, and were up again last year in response to the BLM riots. I live somewhere in the suburbs far from the action, so haven’t thought about it, but if it gets bad, it is something I’d consider
James Lincoln says
Infidel,
If you ever consider purchasing a gun for personal protection…
I was in a local gun store the other day looking at concealed carry pistols (CCW).
The salesman, a certified NRA instructor, recommended a Sig Sauer .380 P238. He uses it as a backup for his Springfield 1911.
We got talking, he happens to be a devout Christian who provides security at a local church.
Nice to know that the “ushers” in the back of the church are packing heat…
gravenimage says
Fine posts, Wellington, James, and Infidel.
Gavur says
Brilliantly well written and to the point. At this rate however, Mozart will be renamed Mozerbacoglu and David will be renamed Tavut and all the history of the West will be rewritten by these militant cockroaches who spread like the plague and rewrite history to glorify themselves – like every Zoroastrian, Greek, Lycean, Armenian cultural element they swallowed up and rebranded as Turkish. Wake up West. Wake up.
Mark Spahn (West Seneca, NY) says
https://legacy.quran.com/5/90
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belomancy
What we need is a sharia-compliant updating of belomancy, perhaps involving the Global Positioning System (GPS).
Mark Spahn (West Seneca, NY) says
Hey, come to think of it, we already have a sharia-compliant replacement for divining arrows:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_8-Ball
European pagan says
I don’t know what should I say to this topic… if there was no alcohol, my father would be alive.
wpm says
I am sorry you lost your father to alcohol , but the article is freedom of choice being taken away .It is not just freedom to drink ,it about freedom of women to go about their daily lives without covering up their faces or face being raped if unescorted by a male relative .It about education, freedom of religion ,freedom of movement, free speech .It is about anti -slavery ,stable sane laws ,stable safer world .
gravenimage says
+1
gravenimage says
Dear European pagan, I am so sorry to hear about your father.
I have mentioned here before that alcoholism (and drug addiction) runs in my family, and so I drink very rarely (perhaps a full glass of anything alocholic in aggregate all year).
But this is something I do for myself; a personal choice–I have never wanted to impose any sort of ban on alcohol on others.
Islam is not out to save people from alcoholism–it is out to impose its own brutal strictures. These include bans on music, on art, on freedom of speach and conscience, on women living free of the veil, on the free practice of any faith save for Islam–alcohol is just part of this. That is the biggest reason I oppose Islam’s ban on alcohol–it is just the camel’s nose under the tent.
Giacomo Latta says
”Turkey is a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and was named as a candidate for EU accession in 1999.”
A EU composed only of Germany, France and Turkey would be a solidly cohesive unit. Their long-term objectives are identical.
gravenimage says
Luckily, it looks as though EU membership for Turkey is largely dead in the water. No matter what problems Europe may have now, a sudden additional 80 million-plus Muslims would be disastrous.
Beneath the Veil of Consciousness says
Loved your post, Wellington. I thought I was the only one who felt these new P.C. terms, BCE and CE, was a slap in the face. However, if were going to take that route we should use the acronyms BUCE and UCE,
(Before the Uncommon Era and the Uncommon Era). After all, I believe Christ’s arrival on the world stage should count for something. It reminds me of when it became politically incorrect to greet people
with “Merry Christmas” at Christmas time and instead was replaced with “Happy Holidays.” How lame and obsequious.
BTW- Doesn’t Pious Erdogan’s wife sport a $50,000 handbag? If that’s not piety, I don’t know what is.
James Lincoln says
Beneath the Veil of Consciousness,
The adoption of new P.C. terms, BCE and CE, is an attempt to write Jesus Christ out of history…
Golem2 says
Just more accurate
gravenimage says
Actually, dating things from the birth of Christ and then pretending you are not doing so is not exactly accurate…
OLD GUY says
Turkey has fallen to the Islamic sharia domination dictator, Erdogan. This is the future of the world if freemen and women don’t have the guts to stand up against the Muslim/Islamic MIGRATION INVASION. Open borders and the sale of DIVERSITY is playing right into the hands of our enemies.
Makes you wonder if our national leaders are only looking at the short term profit for themselves at the cost of the long term damage and destruction of our society and culture.
Much of Europe and the UK are already seeing the damage to their citizens and culture, but Americas leaders are following the same migration road down the rabbit hole. Short sighted!
gravenimage says
Sharia advances in Turkey as government increases restrictions on alcohol
…………………
And the Islamization of Turkey–and all of its oppression–continues apace.
And the first beer made in the world was in nearby Mesopotamia. As always, Islam rejects almost everything that is civilized.
It is never enough for Muslims just to not drink themselves–they have to impose these strictures on everyone–that is Shari’ah.