The department of Genetic and Bioengineering of Yeditepe University (Istanbul) conducted research on 11 well-known micro-organisms (nine bacteria, one fungus, and one yeast) and discovered that, our supplier, Eyüp Sabri Tuncer’s Kolonya is effective on all of them. ON THE POWER OF KOLONYA Günal, Zeki. 2020. “Ve dağıtımına başlandı! İçinde Cumhurbaşkanı Erdoğan’ın mektubu var… [The Distribution has been Started! There’s a letter from President Erdoğan in it…].”Hürriyet DHA, April 7. Accessed 17 December 2020. https://www.hurriyet.com.tr/gundem/ve-dagitimina-baslandi-icinde-cumhurbaskani-erdoganin-mektubu-var-41488893. [Google Scholar] Appadurai, Arjun, ed. 1986. The Social Life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar] Hürriyet. 2020a. “Corona Virüs yüzünden yok satıyor! ‘Bir yılda satamadığımız ürünü bir saatte tükettik’ [Coronavirus-related clearance! ‘We sold more in an hour than we usually do in a year’]. ” March 11. Accessed 17 December 2020. https://www.hurriyet.com.tr/gundem/corona-virus-yuzunden-yok-satiyor-bir-yilda-satamadigimiz-urunu-bir-saatte-tukettik-41466774. [Google Scholar] Colognes have high alcohol content and less oil content than perfumes. For this reason, they are made to be a refresher.

Also, we use Turkish Cologne as a hand sanitizer, refresher, mosquito repellent, and many more uses in our daily lives. Why does the Turkish Cologne’s smell not last? Cologne was first produced in the German city of Cologne. For this reason, Cologne is also called Eau de Cologne which means the water of Cologne. Latour, Bruno. 1988. The Pasteurization of France. Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Press. [Google Scholar]

by Leyla Yvonne Ergil

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Given that its main ingredient was alcohol, the use of kolonya in Muslim-majority Turkey was potentially controversial and indeed, after the Ministry of Health’s announcement all eyes were on the Diyanet, the Directorate of Religious Affairs: would it condone the use of kolonya? Three days later, on March 14, the Diyanet declared that spirit, kolonya, and other alcohol-based liquids were caiz, that is, neither prescribed nor prohibited if used for cleaning purposes (cf. Timeturk Citation2020). While this interpretation was widely accepted among religious scholars in Turkey, a few conservative voices raised concerns. For example, Nurettin Yıldız, a Sunni Orthodox scholar and preacher who runs his own media outlet, was quoted saying that he was concerned about alcoholic substances lingering on the believer’s body during prayers and urged Muslims to wash after using kolonya for purposes of disinfection. Turks reinvented Cologne and made modifications to it. For this reason, Turkish Kolonya is not similar to Eau de Cologne. The bourgeoisie started using Cologne as a perfume because the fragrance of the cologne was lighter and refreshing, unlike the heavy-smelling perfumes of the aristocracy. Howes, David. 2003. Sensual Relations: Engaging the Senses in Culture and Social Theory. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]Rebul’s brand, Atelier Rebul, offers cologne in stylish bottles with rare scents such as lemongrass and honey, amber, jasmine, rose, magnolia, fig, lavender, verbena, and ginger. This ethanol-based concoction’s high alcohol content can kill more than 80% of germs and act as an effective hand disinfectant… Ingredient-wise, there’s not much difference between eau de cologne and Turkish kolonya. Both use roughly the same ethanol-to-essential-oil ratio and often incorporate citrus oils like orange and lemon. But what makes Kolonya so unique is how it’s used, both culturally and practically.” – The BBC Ibn Quayyim al-Jawziyya. 1998. Medicine of the Prophet, transl. by Penelope Johnstone. Cambridge: The Islamic Texts Society. [Google Scholar] Tariş: One of the most reputable brands for olive oil in Turkey also has a respected personal care line that includes over half a dozen kolonya varieties including the more rare fig, olive blossom and green tea aromas and also offers spray bottle options.

Saramifar, Younes. 2018. “Objects, Object-Ness, and Shadows of Meanings: Carving Prayer Beads and Exploring Their Materiality Alongside a Khaksari Sufi Murshid.” Material Religion 14 ( 3): 368–388. doi:10.1080/17432200.2018.1487765. [Taylor & Francis Online] [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar] In all barbers in Turkey, lemon cologne is applied after shaving to refresh the face. So why is cologne applied after the barber? Kirli, Cengis. 2016. “Coffeehouses: Leisure and Sociability in Ottoman Istanbul.” In Leisure Cultures in Urban Europe, c.1700–1870. A Transnational Perspective, edited by P.Borsay and J. H.Furnée, 161–181. Manchester: Manchester University Press. [Google Scholar] Culture Trip launched in 2011 with a simple yet passionate mission: to inspire people to go beyond their boundaries and experience what makes a place, its people and its culture special and meaningful — and this is still in our DNA today. We are proud that, for more than a decade, millions like you have trusted our award-winning recommendations by people who deeply understand what makes certain places and communities so special.Despite its alcohol content, which is problematic in Islam, kolonya became a biopolitical agent in the pro-Muslim Turkish government’s attempt to deal with the early COVID-19 crisis. By recognizing the biochemical effects of ethanol-based kolonya, Turkey’s Islamic authorities have accommodated the challenges brought by the COVID-19 crisis in the fashion of a truly discursive tradition. Resorting to kolonya as a supposedly national cure, they resorted to a longstanding but more recently neglected connection between scents, health, care, and healing in Muslim, but also in European-Christian history prior to the changes brought about by Pasteurism (Latour Citation1988). Whereas in early Muslim history, scents and fragrances were considered part and parcel of theological approaches to healing and medicine, they (temporarily) moved away from such understandings to be considered objects of (secular, cosmetic) consumption. However, as shown in this article, in the early COVID-19 crisis kolonya traversed the boundaries commonly drawn between the secular and the Islamic as one of many socially entrenched binaries of present-day Turkish society.