New Turkish law clamps down on alcohol

[Viking]

I think this "TV series, films or music videos are not allowed to contain images encouraging the consumption of alcohol under the new legislation" is the one that may have the biggest effect. It implies a cultural distancing from the West which could have big effects over the long term.

I'm all in favour of restricting drink-driving and restricted drinking times created a much better pub culture in England than the relaxed laws we have today.

Seriously?  What fun can you have drinking before 10:00 PM?

When the pubs close at Midnight? Quite a lot.

[garbon]

I think this "TV series, films or music videos are not allowed to contain images encouraging the consumption of alcohol under the new legislation" is the one that may have the biggest effect. It implies a cultural distancing from the West which could have big effects over the long term.

I'm all in favour of restricting drink-driving and restricted drinking times created a much better pub culture in England than the relaxed laws we have today.

Seriously?  What fun can you have drinking before 10:00 PM?

Drinking is fun at almost any time...

[Josquius]

We need to find a way to make moonslims to consume alcohol.
Thie is the reason why they are so violemnt.
Oslo, they need night clubs so theu can pick up girls and stop raping innocent non-moonslim girls.

In other words, Islelam needs to go into the dustbin of history.

You're getting your brown menaces mixed up a bit there.
The kind of immigrant kid who hastles white girls usually isn't the best of muslims and often drinks a fair bit.

The law prohibits alcoholic beverage companies from sponsoring events and restricts the places where such drinks can be consumed. It also bans the sale of alcoholic drinks between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.

Supporters of the measure -- introduced by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) party, which has its roots in Islam -- say the law is seeking to protect society, particularly children, from the harmful effects of alcohol.

Does not compute. Surely if its about protecting children then between 10pm and 6am is exactly when you should be doing all the alcohol selling?

[viper37]

Before the usual suspects get on their high horse about this, they might want to consider the many restrictions already in place on the advertising of alcohol and smoking in their own country.

taken in itself, it's no big deal.  Add that to all the conservative policies Turkey has put in effect since the religious are there, plus the arrest of nearly all opponents, and you got a country slowly siding down the extreme religious path, à la Iran.

Of course, they're not the morons many think they are.  Just like modern communists like Chavez, they prefer a "baby steps" approach rather than a full blown revolution to impose their agenda.

[garbon]

The law prohibits alcoholic beverage companies from sponsoring events and restricts the places where such drinks can be consumed. It also bans the sale of alcoholic drinks between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.

Supporters of the measure -- introduced by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) party, which has its roots in Islam -- say the law is seeking to protect society, particularly children, from the harmful effects of alcohol.

Does not compute. Surely if its about protecting children then between 10pm and 6am is exactly when you should be doing all the alcohol selling?

Here's a crazy idea - perhaps the people who are saying "think of the children" aren't concerned with just that one piece of the law that you put in bold.

[Valmy]

Organized crime in that part of the world has to be loving this.

[Richard Hakluyt]

I think this "TV series, films or music videos are not allowed to contain images encouraging the consumption of alcohol under the new legislation" is the one that may have the biggest effect. It implies a cultural distancing from the West which could have big effects over the long term.

I'm all in favour of restricting drink-driving and restricted drinking times created a much better pub culture in England than the relaxed laws we have today.

Seriously?  What fun can you have drinking before 10:00 PM?

You start early, drink fast and are tucked up in bed with some woman by midnight.............what's not to like?



(I guess I'm describing a sort of Platonic ideal of a restricted hours drinking session here  )

[Viking]

I think this "TV series, films or music videos are not allowed to contain images encouraging the consumption of alcohol under the new legislation" is the one that may have the biggest effect. It implies a cultural distancing from the West which could have big effects over the long term.

I'm all in favour of restricting drink-driving and restricted drinking times created a much better pub culture in England than the relaxed laws we have today.

Seriously?  What fun can you have drinking before 10:00 PM?

You start early, drink fast and are tucked up in bed with some woman by midnight.............what's not to like?



(I guess I'm describing a sort of Platonic ideal of a restricted hours drinking session here  )

And you can get up in the morning after and go to work.

[Richard Hakluyt]

Exactly, which is why the UK introduced the restrictions back in WW1.

Another advantage was that the restricted hours kept drink prices low. The exact hours varied from place to place, in Durham they were 11am to 2.30pm and 6pm to 10.30pm. Looking at those hours you can see that with an anchor barkeep or landlord one could hire housewives for the lunchtime session and students or moonlighters for the evening session at minimum/minimal wage rates. Certainly when I was a youngster the beer prices in a pub were comparable to the prices charged at an off licence, they are now about 3 times greater  .......so many people drink at home instead of mixing with their friends and neighbours down at their local.

[Josquius]

The law prohibits alcoholic beverage companies from sponsoring events and restricts the places where such drinks can be consumed. It also bans the sale of alcoholic drinks between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.

Supporters of the measure -- introduced by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) party, which has its roots in Islam -- say the law is seeking to protect society, particularly children, from the harmful effects of alcohol.

Does not compute. Surely if its about protecting children then between 10pm and 6am is exactly when you should be doing all the alcohol selling?

Here's a crazy idea - perhaps the people who are saying "think of the children" aren't concerned with just that one piece of the law that you put in bold.

The time restriction makes no sense.

[garbon]

The law prohibits alcoholic beverage companies from sponsoring events and restricts the places where such drinks can be consumed. It also bans the sale of alcoholic drinks between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.

Supporters of the measure -- introduced by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) party, which has its roots in Islam -- say the law is seeking to protect society, particularly children, from the harmful effects of alcohol.

Does not compute. Surely if its about protecting children then between 10pm and 6am is exactly when you should be doing all the alcohol selling?

Here's a crazy idea - perhaps the people who are saying "think of the children" aren't concerned with just that one piece of the law that you put in bold.

The time restriction makes no sense.

They don't want people out all ours being drunk and causing havoc.

[The Larch]

Those Turkish restrictions to alcohol don't seem that different from what we have over here.

[OttoVonBismarck]

I think it's just concerning with Turkey because they're moving to greater restrictions and it's an indication traditionally (ostensibly) secular Turkey is falling further into the Islamist sphere. I don't mean the Iranian style Islamism or anything, where they'll become an enemy of the West, but Turkey was an important nucleus of secular Muslim society and without it I think it makes it less likely other Muslim societies will modernize their views anytime soon.

Contrast it with alcohol restrictions in the U.S., most of which were put in place either before prohibition or after prohibition ended to perpetuate it in the religious belt and you see that they're mostly a product of the past. The trend in the U.S. has been liberalizing of traditional alcohol restrictions, sale hours have expanded everywhere, even in the Bible Belt, and dry counties have almost gone extinct. Restrictions on ABV for beers have disappeared (in many states 3.2% "near beer" used to be all you could easily buy), and restrictions on distilled spirit advertising went away some time in the early 2000s because they went from stuff you'd only see in magazines to commercial TV ads on any channel.

[Valmy]

Those Turkish restrictions to alcohol don't seem that different from what we have over here.

Seriously?  It seemed like I got pitchers of Sangria with breakfast.  Granted it was summer...

[The Larch]

Those Turkish restrictions to alcohol don't seem that different from what we have over here.

Seriously?  It seemed like I got pitchers of Sangria with breakfast.  Granted it was summer...

Sangría with breakfast? I know that many of our tourists are of the boozy kind but that's too much.

I don't see how that relates to the new regulations, though.