Turk culture clash: shaken not stirred

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan caused quite the stir in a martini glass Friday, insisting that Turkey’s national beverage was neither beer nor even raki, but a watery, salty, yogurty drink known as ayran.

“Beer was unfortunately presented as a national drink,” Erdogan said at a symposium on global alcohol policy in Istanbul. “However, our national drink is ayran.”

Ayran, a Turkish lunchtime refreshment which is oftentimes accompanied by a beef kebab, is a non-alcoholic thirst quencher and is a favorite among many devout Muslims.

“There is no way you can defend, as a lifestyle, the consumption of alcohol, which has no benefit to society, but, on the contrary, inflicts harm,” Erdogan added.

The Turkish prime minister’s comments roiled up the country’s secularists, who immediately set out to defend their cherished hard liquor’s honor.

“We take example from our forefather who drank our National Drink: raki,” read a Twitter comment aimed at Erdogan. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, was photographed on more then one occasion holding a glass full of the anisette liquor.

In recent years, Erdogan’s government has imposed some of the world’s highest taxes on alcohol.

Erdogan claims his policies are meant to reduce alcohol-related violence and control alcohol sales, but many Turkish citizens fear he is motivated by Islamic tendencies rather than a sense of crime-fighting justice.

According to Reuters, the stock of Turkey’s top-listed dairy producer Pinar Sut, which also makes ayran, rose three percent shortly after Erdogan’s remarks.