Raki

Unfortunately the traditional rakı tables of great food and sweet conversations are becoming rare and rakı, an aniseed-based spirit, seems to be losing its crown to other alcoholic drinks due to the high taxes. The producers of rakı, will lobby Brussels in order for the drink to be accepted as a national drink to avoid the overhaul to harmonize the taxation of rakı

ISTANBUL Turkish Daily News


Friends meet around a table, usually covered with a white tablecloth that has delicious mezes (traditional appetizers) on it. Rakı has always been the king of these tables. Especially if it is spring or summer and the table is out in a nice garden, sweet conversations usually last for hours. Unfortunately these tables are becoming rare and rakı, an aniseed-based spirit, seems to be losing its crown to other alcoholic drinks due to the high taxes – which are part and parcel of Turkey's joining the European customs union – that leave rakı unable to compete in the market. Rakı producers now have to fight to save rakı's throne and have started the battle in Brussels.

The producers of rakı, will lobby Brussels in order for the drink to be accepted as a national drink to avoid the overhaul to harmonize the taxation of rakı with the European Union taxation of distilled drinks,The newly founded Traditional Alcoholic Drink Producers' Association (GİSDER) released the results yesterday of a research on “The Economic and Social Role of Rakı in Turkey.” “We have applied to the European Alcoholic Drinks Producers Union for membership. In other words, we are trying to be in the enemy camp,” said Galip Yorgancıoğlu, the president of GİSDER.Yorgancıoğlu spoke at a press conference of the newly founded Traditional Alcoholic Drink Producers' Association (GİSDER), which released the results of a research on “The Economic and Social Role of Rakı in Turkey.” The Scotch whisky lobby groups pressure the Turkish government to urge an increase in taxes on rakı, according to Yongancıoğlu. A similar request came for Greek ouzo, however the taxation rates for ouzo was arranged in accordance with domestic norms, since it was recognized as the national drink of Greece. "In case of ouzo the European Union agreed to register ouzo as the national drink of Greece and exempt it from the harmonized tax on distilled alcoholic drinks like whisky. This is also what we would like to see happening with Turkish rakı,” he said.Yorgancıoğlu estimated that the price of rakı, which today costs approximately YTL 25-26 a bottle, might rise up to YTL 50 with the increased tax rate. "When rakı is placed on an equal standing with whisky, its price can go up to YTL 50. The additional taxes will be directly reflected on the consumer. Even now value added tax and private consumer tax make up 65 percent of the cost of a bottle of rakı.”

The GİSDER president said they conducted such a research to be able to provide some concrete information to the government and the lobby groups in Brussels, while they try to convince the EU and finance ministers to exclude rakı from harmonized tax.The report, which puts forward the social and economic condition of rakı in Turkey in detail, shows clearly that the meaning of rakı to Turks is exactly what ouzo means to Greeks. “We have to see rakı not only as an ordinary beverage produced in Turkey but as one of the basic elements of our economy and lifestyle. It has an important role in our identity and social interactions,” read the report.Other than its unique place in Turkey's cultural and social structure, making rakı is a business that contributes significantly to the economy of the country. In Turkey, 278,000 people are directly involved in the sector and when their families and other dependants are included the number rises to 1.3 million. This number is 1.8 percent of the country's population.

The income from the sector reaches YTL 1.2 billion, which is 1 percent of the total tax revenue of the country. The sector provides an income of over $30 million through exports. Only the income derived from duty-free sales in 2007 is almost $20 million, revealed the report prepared by IBS Research and Consultancy and presented by its manager, David Tonge.Some four million people are employed in the Turkish distilled alcoholic drinks industry directly and through the distribution chain. “I want to remind that rakı is the means of living for people in the chain from the farmers to the owners of outlets selling alcoholic beverages. The increase in rakı sales will affect all of them and change the sociological demography of our neighborhoods,” said Yorgancıoğlu.