Scent of cologne now guards against virus

To weather the coronavirus threat, Turkey, like all countries, needs strong public healthcare measures and wise leadership. But in its age-old traditions, perhaps it already enjoys an unexpected edge.

For in recent weeks the popularity of traditional Turkish cologne has soared, an evergreen symbol of hospitality that people now look to as a valiant guard to help ward off germs.

For in offering ethanol-based cologne (kolonya) to their guests, people realized they were not just being welcoming, but also providing a natural disinfectant.

This tradition may be one of the weapons in Turkey's arsenal that so far has kept cases of the virus in the country relatively low and might help stave off higher numbers in the months to come.

Turkey to date has fewer than 20 confirmed cases of the virus, most of them associated with people who recently traveled abroad, including to Europe, the U.S., and Saudi Arabia.

In the Turkish tradition, cologne is offered in a variety of situations as a pleasant fragrance: After a haircut, on a bus ride, after a trip, when guests arrive, or when visiting a friend in the hospital.
After the first case of coronavirus in Turkey was announced last week, Turkish people flocked to local shops to stock up on cologne.

"The demand for citrus-scented colognes, and especially lemon, leaped fivefold," Engin Tuncer, the owner of top Turkish cologne producer Eyup Sabri Tuncer, told the state-run Anadolu Agency.

In front of the cologne's branded retail shop in the capital Ankara, people line up in queues nearly 100 meters long to get their cologne from the source, he said.

"Some people brought in empty 20-liter plastic bottles to get filled with cologne, but we sell a maximum of 1.5 liters per...