
ANKARA — "I use bootleg alcohol. The recent deaths have scared me a lot, but there's nothing I can do. I can't afford to buy it from Tekel stores with my pension."
These are the words of Sercan (alias), a 65-year-old retired civil servant who both makes and drinks bootleg alcohol.
In an interview with Turkey recap, Sercan said he started making his own rakı at home 10 years ago. Today, it’s the only alcohol he consumes.
The rising use of bootleg alcohol in Turkey has been making headline news after 92 people were hospitalized and 38 died for consuming homemade liquors last week.
Sercan said the nightly news coverage of the topic has left him unsettled, but that he won’t stop his production, which he said is for personal consumption.
"There's nothing to do,” he said. “I'll continue using it."
Sercan is not alone. He is among a growing number of people in Turkey who consume illegal, homemade brews to avoid the steep taxes on licensed alcohol sales.
Lawmakers and business owners told Turkey recap that current alcohol policies have produced a black market boom for bootleg alcohol, posing a public health hazard that is unlikely to wane amid consumer demand for cheap booze.
Price comparison
In Turkey, Tekel shops are one of several certified alcohol vendors. Bülent Özer, a Tekel store owner in İstanbul, said the latest wave of New Year's price increases brought the cost of a 100 CL bottle of rakı to 1250 TL ($35 USD).
Comparing costs, Sercan said he could produce the same amount of rakı for a maximum of 200 TL ($5.50 USD).
For more than a decade, the gap has widened between production costs and the store prices for rakı in Turkey due to incremental tax hikes on the national liquor. In a post on X, tax specialist Ozan Bingöl said alcohol taxes have grown 2,553 percent since 2010.
"After the recent price increases, our sales dropped by about 60 percent,” Özer, the shop owner, told Turkey recap.
When asked if he believed his customers had reduced their alcohol consumption, Özer replied: "I don't think they've quit alcohol at all. Almost all of them have turned to bootleg alcohol."
He went on to note there had been multiple deaths linked to bootleg alcohol in the neighborhood where he operates.
“But nobody quit. They're scared, but they still drink,” Özer said.
Echoing the observation, İsrafil Özkan, a representative of the State Alcohol Policy Monitoring Platform, said regular drinkers are unlikely to quit and go sober.
"Some people are even turning to drugs, which are cheaper due to the exorbitant alcohol price increases,” Özkan told Turkey recap.
He went on, saying deaths from bootleg alcohol in Turkey initially spiked in 2020, when nearly 100 people died from homemade liquors, and that trend lines in production and consumption have since continued.
Following the most recent wave of bootleg alcohol-related deaths, the İstanbul Governor's Office announced it was taking measures to prevent illegal sales, and that it had detained four suspects on charges of "deliberate murder” in relation to bootleg alcohol.
Meanwhile, the Netherlands and the British Foreign Office issued travel advisories to warn tourists of the risk.
Tax increases
Burhanettin Bulut, a deputy chairman and Adana MP for the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), has been vocal on the bootleg alcohol issue in Turkey. He says the problem was caused by the tax and lifestyle policies of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
“Since 2002 [when the AKP came to power], alcohol prices have increased incredibly,” Bulut told Turkey recap. “The exorbitant taxes on alcohol imposed by the government have turned into an interference on lifestyle.”
“With successive cost and tax increases, astronomical market prices increase the supply and demand for bootleg alcohol, directing citizens to under-the-counter production,” he continued. “Under worsening economic conditions, citizens are buying products that are cheaper but whose contents are unknown.”
Bootleg alcohol-producer Sercan and Tekel shop owner Özer said they believed the government was attempting to balance the national budget by increasing taxes on secular lifestyles.
Özkan, meanwhile, underlined Turkey has low levels of alcohol consumption relative to European nations.
“Turkey doesn't have an alcoholism problem that warrants a lifestyle intervention,” Özkan said, adding the average citizen consumes two liters per year. "These rates are actually very low."
At the time of reporting, there is no public data on state taxes collected through alcohol. The Ministry of Finance has yet to respond to questions posed by opposition deputies on the matter.
The Interior Ministry and General Directorate of Security did not reply to a requests for comment for this report.
Black market
The combined price increases on alcohol have created a growing black market. According to data from the State Alcohol Policy Monitoring Platform, the amount of smuggled alcohol seized by police in 2024 was 4,264,679 liters.
Holiday destinations, especially, are known to have high levels of bootleg alcohol in circulation. Antalya consistently tops the list of cities where the most bootleg alcohol is seized in Turkey, according to the platform's data.
In a recent column, journalist Fatih Altaylı argued that the government has not taken sufficient steps to curb the black market despite the ongoing loss of tax revenue and loss of life.
"The AKP government seems to have a general tolerance for smugglers,” Altaylı wrote, adding: “I think they see [smuggling] as a means of capital accumulation and collect their taxes in a different way."
Counter to such sentiments, Tekel store owner Bülent Özer said his shop is frequently inspected by state authorities. Still, CHP’s Bulut maintains current control efforts remain inadequate.
"Raids and arrests on underground producers aren't solving the epidemic of deaths," Bulut said. “Deaths from bootleg alcohol in the 21st century do not suit Turkey.”
He continued, calling for stricter regulations on the sale of methanol and ethanol alcohols, two compounds often used in illicit brewing operations. If consumed, methanol can cause vision loss or death.
Bulut also said a commission has been established to combat bootleg alcohol, and that lawmakers have been warning about the growing black market in Turkey for years.
For Sercan, who makes his own rakı, addressing Turkey’s bootleg alcohol issue requires a tax decrease on licensed alcohol. Özkan agreed:
"For a short-term solution, the Special Consumption Tax needs to be reduced. In the long term, new price increases should be prevented,” he told Turkey recap. “These are addictive substances. Exorbitant prices don't stop people from using them but instead push them to the black market.”
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