Thirty-seven people died in Istanbul between Nov. 1 and mid-December after drinking counterfeit liquor, the governor’s office announced.
In those six weeks, about 73 people were hospitalized with alcohol poisoning, and 17 were still being treated when the statement came out. Officials said 36 suspects accused of supplying the fake alcohol had been detained. Security forces stepped up raids and confiscated 87,758 liters of alcoholic substances in the city.
A recurring pre-New Year problem
Deaths from counterfeit alcohol have become a persistent problem in Türkiye, particularly in the weeks before New Year. The country has reported a significant number of fatalities and poisonings from bootleg drink this year alone.
Health Minister Kemal Memişoğlu supplied national figures when opposition lawmaker Ömer Fethi Gürer of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) put a question to him. Between Jan. 1, 2022, and Oct. 31, 972 patients entered critical care units with methanol toxicity, Memişoğlu said. Twenty of them were diagnosed with blindness or kidney failure within 72 hours.
What methanol does
Experts say the early signs of poisoning from fake alcohol usually surface 10 to 24 hours after drinking. They include trouble with movement and balance, severe stomach pain and changes in vision. Even a small amount of pure methyl alcohol can harm the optic nerves and lead to blindness. It can also bring on paralysis, coma and respiratory failure.
The January surge
The worst came after the new year. Poisoning deaths linked to bootleg alcohol hit Istanbul and Ankara in 2025, and within a 72-hour stretch in January at least 30 people died. By March 8, at least 160 deaths had been reported, along with 230 hospitalizations, including at least 40 people in critical condition. Methanol, a cheap stand-in for ethanol in illegally made drinks, was blamed for most.
The bootleg trade has been tied to higher government taxes on legal alcohol. A liter of raki, the traditional anise-flavored spirit, cost about 1,300 lira in legal shops, a heavy price against the minimum wage.
Sources
- Tainted alcohol consumption kills 37 in Istanbul since Nov 1 – Türkiye News
- 2025 Istanbul alcohol poisonings – Wikipedia
