Sweet and refreshing, Turkish gazoz — a light, carbonated soft drink in a variety of colors and flavors — became a symbol of reckless, Westernized youth in the mid-1940s. This fizzy concoction, first produced during Ottoman times, had fallen out of favor in the late 20th century, but it is unexpectedly back. Reflecting Turkey's regional complexities through its variations, gazoz is stiff competition for anise-flavored raki and ayran (yoghurt mixed with water) in laying claim to being Turkey's true and timeless “national beverage.”

Gazoz, from the French “eau gazeuse” for sparkling water, became so popular in the 1960s and 1970s that it continues to creep into novels and films set in those bygone decades. The Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk conveyed the nation’s affection for these fruit-infused sodas in “Museum of Innocence,” a nostalgic novel on love, and exhibits replicas of the iconic Meltem bottles in the actual Museum of Innocence, “in memory of our optimism and the happy-go-lucky spirit of the day.” The filmmaker and actor Cem Yilmaz uses it as a symbol of tolerance and adolescent idealism in his 2016 movie “Gazoz for Iftar.”

Traditionally, gazoz has been produced and consumed locally, creating and evoking strong connections to its place of origin. In the drink's heyday, every town of Anatolia had a brand or two of its own, made distinctively unique by an original mix of mineral water from its soil and flavors and smells from lemon, ginger, raspberry, gum mastic, and bitter almond, and other edibles. Locally made gazoz eventually came face-to-face with national and international competition.

A handful of national producers, among them Uludag Icecek, Nigde, and Camlica, emerged, selling the drink everywhere, including abroad, while popular foreign brands also found their way onto supermarkets shelves and into corner grocers. The competition was ultimately a losing one for everyone, as gazoz fell victim to carbonated drinks sold around the world.