Turkey’s ban on alcohol ‘is authoritarian and illegal’

Opponents claim country’s leader is using Covid crisis to try to impose religious values during Ramadan

A TEMPORARY ban on alcohol in Turkey amid surging Covid cases has been criticised as another sign of creeping authoritarianism by the country’s president.

The hashtag “don’t touch my alcohol” trended on Twitter in Turkey following Tuesday’s announcement of the prohibition, with many Turkish retailers demanding proof of the ban’s legality as they continued selling alcohol.

“Nowhere in the government decree is there an article on alcohol sales. And we do not live in a banana republic,” said Ayhan Aydin, deputy head of an association of liquor shops.

Opponents of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan say the ban has little to do with addressing the country’s soaring Covid rate, accusing him of attempting to impose religious values during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. An interior ministry official dismissed this, saying that alcohol stores were not essential. “This has nothing to do with Ramadan,” the official said of the fasting month that coincides with the lockdown.

Earlier this month police removed banners erected by the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) asking “Where is the $128billion [£93billion]?”

The figure referred to dollars that state banks sold to prop up the value of the Turkish lira, which has shed more than half its value since 2017. The unorthodox fiscal policy depleted Turkey’s foreign reserves at a time when Mr Erdoğan’s son-in-law, Berat Albayrak, was finance minister. Mr Albayrak resigned last November.

CHP branches across the country then erected posters featuring just the number 128, which were also removed by police. Authorities cited laws against insulting the president as justification for their removal.

But Ibhrahim Kaboglu, an opposition MP and leading constitutional law professor, said their removal was unfounded. “These actions have no legal basis,” he told The Sunday Telegraph. While officials defended the monetary policy as legal – “These were absolutely not illegal actions, nor corruption,” said Lufti Elvan, the finance minister – opponents say the government’s intolerance for dissenting voices is the greater issue.

“In authoritarian systems, the failures of governments don’t get to be exposed. Governments spend all their efforts on propaganda and reframing reality,” said Burak Bilgehan Ozpek, a Turkish political analyst. “This is the situation we are facing in Turkey.”

Mr Ozpek said that after ruling for 18 years, Mr Erdoğan was neglecting the hard work of governance in favour of populist and authoritarian displays to shore up support with his base of observant Muslims who form the majority of Turkey’s 83million population.

But with the latest three week lockdown compounding Turkey’s prolonged economic crisis, ordinary Turks are suffering the effects of high inflation and a nosediving lira without a stimulus plan to alleviate the pain.

“If they keep this management performance, they don’t have any chance to win [the 2023] elections,” he said.