ISTANBUL - A Turkish company said Monday it would recall from the market and destroy all of its supply of a brand of the national drink raki after at least 19 people died from a bootleg version of the drink, the Anatolia news agency reported.
Galip Yorgancioglu, the chief executive of Mey Icki, told reporters that the decision aimed at helping the authorities deal with the affair.
After destroying its current supply of the 70-cl bottles of the country's most popular Yeni Raki brand, whose counterfeit versions caused the deaths, the company will change the color of the bottle lids, Yorgancioglu said.
Almost all of the deaths ocurred in Istanbul, Turkey's biggest city.
Nineteen other people are still in hospital.
Health officials have said that the bootleg raki contained up to 200 times more than the allowed limit of deadly methylated spirits.
Police have arrested at least 15 people and seized thousands of bottles in several operations across the country.
The deaths triggered unrest across Turkey, where the grape and aniseed based drink is consumed in vast amounts and goes by the name of "Lion's Milk," for the milky color it takes when water is added and for purportedly giving courage and potency to its drinkers.
Many bar owners and industry figures have put the blame for the emergence of illegal stills on higher consumption taxes levied on alcoholic beverages by the Turkish government, which has Islamist roots.
The government has brushed aside the criticism and ruled out reducing the taxes.
03/07/2005 12:59 GMT