Post by Bozur on Dec 19, 2005 3:40:53 GMT -5
Lawyers' Group Files Grievance Against Turkish Drinking Zones
By SEBNEM ARSU
Published: December 13, 2005
ISTANBUL, Dec. 12 - Lawyers representing the Ankara Bar Association requested an injunction on Monday to prevent efforts to force restaurants and bars that serve alcohol to move outside city centers.
Recent attempts by several municipalities to restrict drinking to certain zones has led to conflict between the officials of the governing Justice and Development Party, who hold many municipal offices as well, and secular groups in Turkey.
Secularists, including many in the military, view the drinking zones as a sign that the governing party is returning to its Islamic roots, rekindling fears that there will be additional conservative moves to regulate social and political life.
"Municipal law allows the local authority to allocate specific areas," the bar association's official complaint stated, "but doesn't make any reference to alcohol drinking zones."
The dispute began when local administrations in several cities including Ankara, the capital, banned alcohol at government-run cafes and restaurants, citing new guidelines issued by the Interior Ministry. The conflict grew when some neighborhood mayors in Antalya and Istanbul went a step further, suggesting the creation of special zones outside the city centers for establishments that serve alcohol.
The bar association's case was filed in a local court, but it seeks to overturn the Interior Ministry rules and to encourage bar associations in other cities to file cases as well.
The city assembly in Antalya, a seaside town known as the tourism capital of the country, on Friday rejected a move to establish alcohol zones after heavy pressure from business groups.
On Monday, the mayor of Istanbul said he would not approve any move to establish drinking zones in the historical city center. But even the suggestion was enough to cause protests. A majority of Turkey's residents are Muslims, but the country has long considered itself secular.
Osman Ayik, leader of Turkey's Union of Mediterranean Hotels and Enterprises, said such prohibitions would not serve the country's efforts to become a tourism center or to help it align itself with European Union standards as a candidate for membership.
"Beer for Germans, or wine for French, is what water is to us," he said.
"If we undermine their right to drink anywhere they want to, we fail to make them feel at home, and we had better forget about Turkey becoming a tourism magnet in the world."
Government officials have blamed the news media and opposition parties for the negative reaction to the idea of alcohol zones, calling the moves innocuous and insisting that they had no intention of banning alcohol in Turkey. Interior Minister Abdulkadir Aksu said at a news conference last week that restricting establishments that served alcohol to certain areas would be good city planning.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan also backed such regulations, saying that it was a duty of the state to protect young people from alcohol addiction.
Critics say age and other restrictions on alcohol already exist, and they remain skeptical about the party's motivations.
Mr. Erdogan and many other party officials were members of an earlier Islamic political group, the Welfare Party, which collapsed in 1997 under threat of a military coup in response to Welfare's efforts to institute religious policies.
Vedat Ahsen Cosar, leader of the Ankara lawyers' group, said: "Once the lawmakers start to interfere with freedoms, you can never tell where they will stop. Who can guarantee that the government wouldn't go any further?"
In a country where drinking is widespread, alcohol has never before been an issue between secularists and pious citizens at a public level. Televised pictures of Mr. Erdogan, the prime minister, toasting with fruit juice at official banquets are as common as Turkish social scenes replete with a variety of alcoholic drinks.
"People have the intelligence to chose what and where to drink," Mr. Cosar said. "The state should find more vital things to worry about."
By SEBNEM ARSU
Published: December 13, 2005
ISTANBUL, Dec. 12 - Lawyers representing the Ankara Bar Association requested an injunction on Monday to prevent efforts to force restaurants and bars that serve alcohol to move outside city centers.
Recent attempts by several municipalities to restrict drinking to certain zones has led to conflict between the officials of the governing Justice and Development Party, who hold many municipal offices as well, and secular groups in Turkey.
Secularists, including many in the military, view the drinking zones as a sign that the governing party is returning to its Islamic roots, rekindling fears that there will be additional conservative moves to regulate social and political life.
"Municipal law allows the local authority to allocate specific areas," the bar association's official complaint stated, "but doesn't make any reference to alcohol drinking zones."
The dispute began when local administrations in several cities including Ankara, the capital, banned alcohol at government-run cafes and restaurants, citing new guidelines issued by the Interior Ministry. The conflict grew when some neighborhood mayors in Antalya and Istanbul went a step further, suggesting the creation of special zones outside the city centers for establishments that serve alcohol.
The bar association's case was filed in a local court, but it seeks to overturn the Interior Ministry rules and to encourage bar associations in other cities to file cases as well.
The city assembly in Antalya, a seaside town known as the tourism capital of the country, on Friday rejected a move to establish alcohol zones after heavy pressure from business groups.
On Monday, the mayor of Istanbul said he would not approve any move to establish drinking zones in the historical city center. But even the suggestion was enough to cause protests. A majority of Turkey's residents are Muslims, but the country has long considered itself secular.
Osman Ayik, leader of Turkey's Union of Mediterranean Hotels and Enterprises, said such prohibitions would not serve the country's efforts to become a tourism center or to help it align itself with European Union standards as a candidate for membership.
"Beer for Germans, or wine for French, is what water is to us," he said.
"If we undermine their right to drink anywhere they want to, we fail to make them feel at home, and we had better forget about Turkey becoming a tourism magnet in the world."
Government officials have blamed the news media and opposition parties for the negative reaction to the idea of alcohol zones, calling the moves innocuous and insisting that they had no intention of banning alcohol in Turkey. Interior Minister Abdulkadir Aksu said at a news conference last week that restricting establishments that served alcohol to certain areas would be good city planning.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan also backed such regulations, saying that it was a duty of the state to protect young people from alcohol addiction.
Critics say age and other restrictions on alcohol already exist, and they remain skeptical about the party's motivations.
Mr. Erdogan and many other party officials were members of an earlier Islamic political group, the Welfare Party, which collapsed in 1997 under threat of a military coup in response to Welfare's efforts to institute religious policies.
Vedat Ahsen Cosar, leader of the Ankara lawyers' group, said: "Once the lawmakers start to interfere with freedoms, you can never tell where they will stop. Who can guarantee that the government wouldn't go any further?"
In a country where drinking is widespread, alcohol has never before been an issue between secularists and pious citizens at a public level. Televised pictures of Mr. Erdogan, the prime minister, toasting with fruit juice at official banquets are as common as Turkish social scenes replete with a variety of alcoholic drinks.
"People have the intelligence to chose what and where to drink," Mr. Cosar said. "The state should find more vital things to worry about."