A turning drive control apparatus that controls a drive of a turning mechanism of a construction machine driven to turn by an electric motor, includes: a drive command creation part that creates a drive command to drive the electric motor based on an amount of operation input through an operation part of the construction machine; a turning motion detection part that detects a turning motion of the turning mechanism; and a drive command correction part that corrects the drive command, when a turning motion in a direction opposite to a turning operation direction input to the operation part is detected by the turning motion detection part, to suppress the turning motion in the direction opposite to the turning operation direction in response to a degree of the turning motion in the direction opposite to the turning operation direction.