by Nicolas Cheviron
ISTANBUL - The deaths of nine people from bootleg liquor has sparked panic in Istanbul drinking establishments, with many bar owners blaming higher taxes on alcoholic beverages by a government with Islamist roots for the emergence of illegal liquor factories.
Police have so far raided at least three illegal factories in Istanbul and its environs where a bootleg version of raki, Turkey`s potent national drink, was produced, and seized several thousand bottles of the illegal liquor across the country.
Ten people detained in the operation have appeared in court and five of them have been placed under formal arrest on charges of "endangering a person`s health".
The alarm was first raised on Sunday when four people died after a meal at a restaurant in a working-class district of the country`s biggest city Istanbul.
Since then five more people have died after consuming bootleg raki, which health officials say contains up to 200 times more than the allowed amount of methyl alcohol, which causes death when drunk in large amounts.
Police were also investigating a number of other deaths which they suspect might have been caused by the bootleg raki.
A total of 44 people have been hospitalized so far with complaints of vomiting, dizziness, headache and loss of eyesight. Eleven of them were reported to be in critical condition.
Industry officials say the deaths were just a disaster waiting to happen since the government, eager to keep up with tight fiscal targets set in an IMF-backed austerity programme, increased taxes on alcoholic beverages.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan`s Justice and Development Party (AKP), which was born on the ashes of a banned Islamist movement, has increased taxes on alcoholic beverages four times since coming to power in November 2002, with the last hike amounting to 26 percent.
"A bottle of 70 centiliters of raki costs 22.5 New Turkish Lira (13.4 euros) and 15 liras of that price is tax. That amounts to 65 percent," Galip Yorgancioglu, the CEO of Mey Drinks, was quoted by the Anatolia news agency as saying.
"Bootlegging has become very lucrative with the tax hikes in the last two years. We have always said that liquour production would go underground with such taxes," he added.
The deaths have triggered unrest across the country, where raki goes by the name of "Lion"s Milk" for endowing courage and potency on its drinkers and is consumed in huge amounts.
"Two glasses of raki and you are dead. This is massacre, it is murder," said Camal Taslicukur, the owner of Etap cafe, a tavern in Istanbul`s nightlife district of Beyoglu.
He complained of a drop in the number of customers since the deaths.
"Since the affair, all clients are suspicious and scared. Even I do not attempt to drink raki. Those who ask for it order the most expensive and the least sold brand, hoping that bootlegers would not have had the idea of getting their hands on it," he said.
The discomfort is also visible in liqour kiosks in Beyoglu which complain of a drop in their raki sales.
"Yesterday, we sold only a single bottle of raki while normally we sell between 120 and 140 a week," said shopowner Mehmet Babagir, who takes time out to explain to his customers the diferences between genuine and bootleg raki.
Most also held high taxes as the main reason for the bootlegging.
"The taxes are way too high and they are encouraging," Selman Karapinar, the owner of a small grocery shop.
"Some clients complain especially because there are restaurants that sell a bottle for 20 New Turkish Liras," he said, admitting that he had also been appraoched by bootleggers.
Raki is a traditional Turkish alcoholic beverage strongly aromatized with anise-seed.

03/03/2005 11:06 GMT