Diageo, the world’s biggest liquor maker, is making an unlikely bet on Turkish tipplers.
The British company agreed on Monday to pay 1.3 billion pounds ($2.1 billion) to buy Mey Icki, Turkey’s biggest distiller and the country’s leading maker of raki, an anise-flavored beverage downed by Turks more than any other alcoholic beverage except beer.
Diageo is looking at the shot glass half full – Turkey’s strong economy, rising prosperity and urbanization to encourage more drinking. But others, like Seyfettin Gürsel, a professor at Istanbul’s Bahcesehir University who conducted a study of tax policy and consumption trends, sees it half empty – and draining fast. He contends that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is determined to deter drinking in conformance with Islam’s ban on alcohol.
Erdogan’s alcohol policy strikes at the heart of the debate among Turks as to whether the prime minister and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) want to preserve Turkey’s democratic institutions or are they gradually putting it on the path to an Islamic state. Often termed “mildly Islamist,” the AKP’s rule in Turkey is being held up as a model for Egypt and other countries seeking a balance between democracy and religion.
“What we’re seeing is an emerging middle class opportunity,” Stephen Doherty, Diageo’s director of communications, told The Media Line. “The middle class segment is growing – that’s what’s really driving the opportunity. People are becoming more economically empowered.”
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