Turkey is about to enact the strictest alcohol laws in the republic’s 89-year history in a move that some Turks complain is part of a creeping Islamist agenda.
The bill supported by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan would prohibit the sale of alcohol from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. and forbid the depiction of alcohol consumption on television, billboards, newspapers, storefronts and at festivals.
Liquor sales within 100 yards of a school or mosque would be banned.
Is that headline meant to be a pun?
I know some Turks who are dispirited about this, and about their country in general. Clever headline. I have been in the restaurant mentioned, and many others, including some five-star hotels, which will no longer be able to serve alcohol because of the numbers of mosques in Istanbul.
The headline gave me a smile.