‘One glass of raki’
The headline run by the Hürriyet daily the other day was not actually about alcoholic drinks.
The ban placed on “one glass of rak?” is, as this newspaper reflected, first and foremost a political problem. Those who have chosen to lead a more religious life and those who have chosen to live outside of religion (but not without religion) are coming face to face. And this face-off is being carried into the political arena aboard two symbols in particular, the headscarf for those who have chosen a life of religion and alcohol for those who haven’t. Turkey is actually experiencing a problem of being stuck between these two symbols. The problem ought not to be placing importance on “one glass of rak?,” but instead the contents of the ban that is the subject of this news; solutions only become easier when the debates take place over not the symbols themselves, but the concrete issues that these symbols represent. Those who are really opposed to alcoholic drinks need to be informed of these realities. There is no other way to erase their personal concerns on this front.
16 May 2008, Friday
MÜMTAZ’ER TÜRKÖNE, ZAMAN
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