Is alcohol Turkey’s biggest problem?

Last week, AKP Chairman and President Tayyip Erdoğan made statements regarding alcohol.

Following this, his remarks were shared on his official X account. In Erdoğan’s words, the fight against alcohol, drugs, and gambling stood out. However, his remarks attacking the opposition while explaining his sensitivity toward combating addictions were widely discussed.

Erdoğan’s words, “One of the first actions of the municipalities taken over by the main opposition is to turn social facilities into taverns… During the February 28 period, our people were profiled, and even dismissed from their professions, because they did not consume alcohol,” were noteworthy.

The fight against addiction is, of course, a noble struggle. However, let us look at what has happened statistically during the more than twenty years of AKP rule, despite the motto of our national drink being ayran.

Based on the last 19 years of the AKP era, it has emerged that there has been an increase of over 46 percent in alcohol consumption.

These data were shared by Republican People’s Party (CHP) Tekirdağ Deputy İlhami Özcan Aygun.

There are also interesting figures regarding drug use.

According to the 2024 World Drug Report published by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), it was announced that there are 292 million drug addicts in the world, and this figure is 1.7 million in Turkey.

According to the 2023 Court of Accounts Audit Report of the Spor Toto Organization Presidency, the number of lawsuits in which the Spor Toto Organization Presidency participated as an intervening party has increased significantly over the years. According to the report, the number of lawsuits, which was 91 in 2020 and 2021, rose to 954 in 2022 and 1,937 in 2023. These are only the cases that went to court.

However, illegal betting or the betting games operated by Demirören have now reached even young children. People from all walks of life experiencing economic crisis have betting coupons in their hands or betting applications on their phones.

One must ask: While problems such as poverty, economic difficulties, justice, freedom of the press, democratic rights, unappointed teachers, and high house rents persist in Turkey, is alcohol the first problem that comes to mind? Furthermore, Mr. Erdoğan may have been given incorrect information. Because, unfortunately, a more realistic assessment is that those who were profiled, segregated, and marginalized for consuming alcohol—rather than those profiled for 'not consuming alcohol'—are the reality.

If you recall, an airline employee had to leave the country because they drank alcohol on the Night of Power (Kadir Gecesi)! In which state institution in Turkey is alcohol served at a reception? In which of the municipalities' social facilities can an event with alcohol be held?

Given this situation, it is of course impossible to read the situation solely through alcohol. But these debates over drinks and beverages have been ongoing since the world began. Whether you drink ayran or wine, what you drink has always been material for politics.

There is a book by British journalist Tom Standage, translated into Turkish and put on sale by Kırmızı Kedi Publishing House: A History of the World in Six Glasses…

In the book, Standage says, “Water limited and directed the progress of mankind by forcing it to live by the water's edge. Drinks have continued to shape human history ever since, that is, from the beginning. However, in the last ten thousand years, drinks emerged and challenged the supremacy of water. These drinks, which are not found ready-made in nature, were obtained through conscious effort. In addition to offering safer options than the dirty, disease-ridden water sources in human settlements, these new drinks also took on various roles. Many were used in religious rituals. Sometimes they served as money, sometimes they took on the role of a political symbol, and sometimes they became a source of philosophical and artistic inspiration. Some served to emphasize the power and status of the elite, while others served to subjugate or appease the oppressed.”

In a world where even water is not calm, perhaps the most accurate way is to read history by looking at glasses… Let us look at how drinks have changed world history, using Standage as a source.

BEER: MESOPOTAMIA’S HAPPY HOUR

In 4,000 BC, while Sumerian uncles were singing murmuring songs with the morning sun and producing beer, there was neither Twitter nor Netflix. But there was a social contract, and it was even carved into clay tablets. Because back then, beer didn't just make you drunk; it held society together. Perhaps that syrupy drink was the ancestor of today's “Let’s have a drink together sometime” messages.

But the funny thing is this: The people defined social classes thanks to beer. Who drinks from barley, who from wheat... Who from a pitcher, who with a perforated straw. It was the first version of today's “I drink third-wave coffee” vibe.

WINE: ANCIENT GREECE’S TEDX TALK

Then came wine. That is, the drink that is talked about the most alongside democracy, and the more it is drunk, the more it is talked about. While decisions were being made in the agoras of Athens, there were jugs in hands. Philosophers who said, “I’ll have another glass, but no to war with Sparta,” were busy with grapes watered with blood on the other side of the river.

Wine was such a drink that they didn't talk about the drinker versus the non-drinker, but how they drank it. It exists today too, you know, those who ramble on saying, "the body is good, the tannin balance is magnificent"... That existed in Ancient Greece too. But there, these intellectual conversations sometimes ended with a Persian invasion. Whether wine triggers war or war triggers wine is still debated.

COLA: THE SUGARY BULLET OF THE COLD WAR

And then came Coca-Cola. It didn't make you drunk, perhaps, but it directed the world…

The liquid form of the American dream. The liter-sized manifesto of capitalism. Take a sip, let freedom come... In the 1940s, Coca-Cola crates were occupying Europe more than the uniforms of American soldiers. Even the vodka Stalin drank had lost its taste in those years, because what we call American soft power was actually an ice-cold soda.

They said, “Colonialism is over,” but we are still addicted to cola. While children in Palestine are throwing stones, the bottles in their hands are Coca-Cola; in Paris, revolutionaries drink Red Bull to stay on their feet. They sell us freedom, but it contains sugar, caffeine, and plenty of perception management. Today's democracy packages come in metal cans and say “Zero” on them; perhaps just like their contents.

So, what does this mean? What we drink determines not only our taste buds but also our ideology, our class, and even our destiny. Some of us drink beer and overthrow kings, some of us make art with wine, and some of us watch democracy being brought to other lands while sipping our cola.

History is not hidden in the drink, but in the story the drink tells. I don't know whether to say 'cheers' or 'get well soon,' but the only thing we need to know is that whatever we drink, we should show respect to those who drink what we don't. Whether it's ayran or rakı, both are white in the glass; let us open our doors to everyone in pure, white innocence. Otherwise, a black, sugary, caffeinated drink will come and darken the white pages, and the acid inside will dissolve them…