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Turkey

Alcohol Ban In Turkey Widens, Critics Blame Islamist Agenda

HURRIYET (Turkey)

Worldcrunch

ISTANBUL - Alcohol sale bans in Turkey, which started in universities, have now been expanded to police-related offices, academies and training facilities.

The Istanbul daily Hurriyet reported that the move by the Tobacco and Alcohol Market Regulatory Authority (TAPDD), is the first such ban on alcohol sales in public institutions.

The TAPDD said the ban would be put into place at police headquarters, which include education environments where alcohol is not permitted. Many police stations in Turkey have training facilities, which fall under this category. The TAPDD stressed that the ban would not be implemented in public enterprises that do not include educational or training facilities.

Under the new restrictions alcohol licenses will not be given to dorms, cafes, arcade and bridge salons, or social common areas within educational facilities. Restaurants, however, will not be permitted to serve alcoholic beverages exceeded 5%.

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(photo: Sarah Sphar)

Hurriyet noted that many caterers have complained that obtaining alcohol licenses is increasingly become difficult in Turkey, especially for outdoor events like weddings.

The recent bans have added fuel to the debate over whether Turkey’s government has a hidden Islamic agenda as it enforces restrictions of alcohol sales for caterers. But the TAPDD board say the restrictions are being put into place in conjunction with the Ministry of Health to make sure that alcohol is not being consumed irresponsibility by youth.

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Geopolitics

Senegal's Democratic Unrest And The Ghosts Of French Colonialism

The violence that erupted following the sentencing of opposition politician Ousmane Sonko to two years in prison left 16 people dead and 500 arrested. This reveals deep fractures in Senegalese democracy that has traces to France's colonial past.

Image of Senegalese ​Protesters celebrating Sonko being set free by the court, March 2021

Protesters celebrate Sonko being set free by the court, March 2021

Pierre Haski

-Analysis-

PARIS — For a long time, Senegal had the glowing image of one of Africa's rare democracies. The reality was more complicated than that, even in the days of the poet-president Léopold Sedar Senghor, who also had his dark side.

But for years, the country has been moving down what Senegalese intellectual Felwine Sarr describes as the "gentle slope of... the weakening and corrosion of the gains of Senegalese democracy."

This has been demonstrated once again over the last few days, with a wave of violence that has left 16 people dead, 500 arrested, the internet censored, and a tense situation with troubling consequences. The trigger? The sentencing last Thursday of opposition politician Ousmane Sonko to two years in prison, which could exclude him from the 2024 presidential elections.

Young people took to the streets when the verdict was announced, accusing the justice system of having become a political tool. Ousmane Sonko had been accused of rape but was convicted of "corruption of youth," a change that rendered the decision incomprehensible.

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