In times of crisis everyone has to make sacrifices. In the Turkish parliament, for example, there is no longer any Coca-Cola or Nestlé. MPs who felt like drinking soda or instant coffee were told that this was no longer possible for reasons of solidarity with the Palestinians. According to the President of Parliament, we will no longer buy anything from companies “that have declared their support for Israel and the killing of innocent people in Gaza.” The Speaker of Parliament did not explain what connects Nestlé and Coca-Cola with Israel. But he also announced that products that had already been purchased would be thrown away. The unopened Coke cans from Ankara, a waste product of world politics.
In Turkey, boycotting is something of a national sport. It has to do with anger for which there is no outlet. The sympathies in the Middle East conflict are clearly distributed in the country; people feel for the Palestinians. Hamas’ terror no longer plays a role, the only issue is the situation in the Gaza Strip. You give in to hatred of Israel, you go to demonstrations, that’s all you can do from Istanbul or Mersin. So where should the anger go?
You can do without a Big Mac. Since the Israeli branches of McDonald’s started offering soldiers a discount, the burger chain has become the enemy for some Turks. Even if the Turkish McDonald’s chain has nothing to do with the Israeli one on paper, as it quickly announced. A man in Istanbul still thought it was a good idea to leave a box of mice in a store. For the Palestinian cause.
Which product you leave out is a question of character. With people as well as with institutions. Tell me what you boycott, I’ll tell you who you are. There are the conspiracy believers who suspect a Jewish origin in the name of a detergent from the US state of Ohio. Ariel, it’s clear. The boycott on suspicion has a certain tradition in Turkey, unforgotten by the mayor of Izmir, who went into battle against Dole bananas in 1995. He was sure that then-US Senator Bob Dole, supposedly an enemy of Turkey, was the owner of the banana empire. He wasn’t, doesn’t matter.
Others boycott precisely. When Turkey argued with the Netherlands in 2017, a farm was forced to take action and expelled 40 Dutch cows from the country. Today there seems to be a news junkie working at the Turkish railway company who noticed a legal dispute in the USA. The union of Starbucks employees sent out a pro-Palestinian tweet, and now the company is suing the union. It’s logical that Starbucks coffee is no longer served on express trains in Turkey.
From now on, Turkish mocha on the tracks. Or perhaps the instant coffee from Nestlé, which the MPs are giving up. The boycott fury shouldn’t hurt the companies themselves too much, and the Turkish McDonald’s restaurants are still well attended. Only Ariel is having a hard time, and some in Israel are now calling for people to stop buying the detergent. It is bottled in Turkey.