Bootleg Alcohol in Istanbul Kills 23 People in 48 hours

The Arnavutköy district has become one of Istanbul’s most famous nightlife locations.

Twenty-three people in Istanbul have died in 48 hours after drinking tainted alcohol.

At least 43 others were hospitalized — 32 of them in intensive care — Turkish officials said. Since the start of the new year, they said a total of 34 people have died from the effects of bootleg alcohol. Alcohol tainted with methanol is thought to be the cause.



Methanol is a substance that's often added to alcohol to increase its potency. It's often used in illegally produced products instead of ethanol because it's cheaper, according to a study which looked at illegally produced alcohol in southern Turkiye, and it can cause blindness, liver damage and death.

Turkiye suffered previous incidents of methanol poisoning. Tainted alcohol sickened 110 victims in 2024, killing 48 of them, after the government raised taxes on alcohol.

This may affect tourism to Turkiye. At its height in 2019, Turkiye attracted approximately 51 million foreign tourists which contributed towards its GDP. In 2023, tourism revenue reached $54.3 billion USD. Last year, several tourists from Australia, the UK, and the US died from methanol poisoning in Laos.


Sources:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/istanbul-tainted-alcohol-people-dead/

https://travelwiththegreens.com/what-percentage-of-turkey-s-gdp-is-contributed-by-tourism.html