Turkey's Creeping Alcohol Ban Reaches New Heights
Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party’s campaign to ban alcohol has now reached Turkish Airlines, writes Kadri Gursel.
The neo-Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP) that has ruled Turkey for more than 10 years, parallel to boosting its strength and effectiveness, has for a while also been pursuing a multi-phase campaign to exclude alcohol consumption from public life and make it invisible.
None of the underhanded alcohol bans systematically expanded over the years were ever justified on religious grounds. Rather, the justification for banning alcohol sales and consumption has always been to protect public health and public order.
