Nineteen people who drank tainted alcohol in İstanbul have died in the past 48 hours, with dozens more being treated for poisoning, Agence France-Presse reported, citing the state-run Anadolu news agency.
Archived version: https://web.archive.org/web/20250116080204/https://www.turkishminute.com/2025/01/15/19-dead-after-drinking-bootleg-alcohol-in-istanbul5/
People have been making fake rakı to drink at home with friends for over five years now due to pricesas Korhaka pointed out. They basically get ethanol from a pharmacist friend or similar where they can trust its ethanol and not spiked with stuff to stop you drinking it or methylated, and top it up with flavours and something to change colour.
It completely sucks. the current party has fucked the entire country for over 2 decades.
Looking at the price I can hardly blame people for turning to alternative sources. Based on the wage there it would be like a bottle costing £150 or so here.
If people selling it on the black market are going to keep poisoning people it would be safer to make it yourself.
