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Turkish Smokers Face Tough Legislation
January 12, 2008 04:19 PM
by
findingDulcinea Staff
Turkey is pushing through one of the world’s strictest bans on public smoking. A nation famed for strong tobacco is the latest of several European countries to stop people lighting up in public spaces.
30-Second Summary
What Turkish Daily News writer Izgi Gungor called “one of two or three key components of Turkish social life” may be on its way out. On Jan. 3, the Turkish parliament passed what must rank as one of the world’s most stringent smoking bans.
Conceived by members of the ruling AK Parti government, the law forbids smoking in any enclosed public space, including bars, nightclubs, shopping centers and taxi cabs. The new regulations extend the anti-smoking laws of 1997, which prohibit smoking on public buses, planes and in educational and health care institutions.
Local reactions to the law have ranged from cheers to trepidation to scoffing. Smoking is arguably part of Turkey’s cultural fabric. Around 40 percent of Turks aged 15 and over and 11 percent of those aged 7 to 11 smoke regularly.
Past moves to reduce public smoking have been met with defiance. Nurses in public hospitals have been seen smoking while on their rounds, and mothers lighting up under no-smoking signs is a common sight around Istanbul, writes the Turkish Daily News.
Ankara University public health professor Recep Akdur said of the new legislation, “The law aims to raise the sensitivity of smokers toward the harms of smoking on both themselves and the people around them.”
AK Parti member of parliament Mehmet Tuncak echoed this sentiment. Set to speak against the ban on the parliament floor, he changed his tune when he learned that a relative was suffering from a smoking-related disease.
Critics say that an Islamist motivation lies behind the new law. Ankara pub manager Timucin Gursan told the Turkish Daily News, “I think the ban is an indirect prohibition posed by the government to reduce alcohol consumption in the country.”
Conceived by members of the ruling AK Parti government, the law forbids smoking in any enclosed public space, including bars, nightclubs, shopping centers and taxi cabs. The new regulations extend the anti-smoking laws of 1997, which prohibit smoking on public buses, planes and in educational and health care institutions.
Local reactions to the law have ranged from cheers to trepidation to scoffing. Smoking is arguably part of Turkey’s cultural fabric. Around 40 percent of Turks aged 15 and over and 11 percent of those aged 7 to 11 smoke regularly.
Past moves to reduce public smoking have been met with defiance. Nurses in public hospitals have been seen smoking while on their rounds, and mothers lighting up under no-smoking signs is a common sight around Istanbul, writes the Turkish Daily News.
Ankara University public health professor Recep Akdur said of the new legislation, “The law aims to raise the sensitivity of smokers toward the harms of smoking on both themselves and the people around them.”
AK Parti member of parliament Mehmet Tuncak echoed this sentiment. Set to speak against the ban on the parliament floor, he changed his tune when he learned that a relative was suffering from a smoking-related disease.
Critics say that an Islamist motivation lies behind the new law. Ankara pub manager Timucin Gursan told the Turkish Daily News, “I think the ban is an indirect prohibition posed by the government to reduce alcohol consumption in the country.”
Headline Links: Ankara passes smoking ban
The Turkish parliament made international headlines on Jan. 3 for passing legislation that bans smoking in any public indoor space, including workplaces, taxi cabs, bars, nightclubs and malls. The ban was originally set to go into effect this month, but thanks to the efforts of the tobacco lobby it will not be implemented until July.
Source: Turkish Daily News
Since 1997, Turks have been forbidden from lighting up in buses, planes, schools and hospitals. This prohibition has been enforced with varying degrees of success, with people smoking underneath “no smoking” signs and nurses enjoying a quick puff in the hallways while making their rounds common occurrences. A fine equal to $43 is imposed on offenders. Businesses allowing smoking on their premises pay a penalty of some $4,300. Tobacco is firmly entrenched in Turkey’s culture, with smokers making up 40 percent of the population over the age of 15 and 11 percent of the 7 to 11 age bracket.
Source: Turkish Daily News
Background: Europe clears the air
France and Germany, both countries with a longstanding love of lighting up, fully implemented smoking bans in pubs and restaurants on Jan. 1. Now, patrons of such establishments in 11 of Germany’s 16 states can only indulge their nicotine addictions in separate, closed-off rooms. An association of pub owners in Germany has called the new regulations “unconstitutional.” While drinking in a bar, Berlin businessman Hans Dorsmann, called the ban “a stupid law that will hit the little people.” As for France’s restrictions, which went into full effect on Jan. 2 after a “grace period” for New Year’s Day, electrician Alain Filipetti said, “It won’t be the same at all. I’ve always started the day with a coffee and a cigarette.”
Source: The Washington Post
The United Kingdom instituted a ban on smoking in public places in July 2007. Critics predicted that businesses would suffer, but by August the same year, 70 percent of Britain’s pub and restaurant owners reported either an increase or no change in the number of customers. In addition, waiting staff on average had 95 percent less exposure to airborne particulates after the ban, putting indoor air quality on par with urban outdoor levels.
Source: The Independent
Historical Context: America’s quest to kick the habit
Illinois is the latest state to implement smoking bans in all enclosed public areas. Fines for individuals flouting the new rule, which went into effect Jan. 1, range from $150–200. Establishments that allow patrons to smoke are subject to a first-time penalty of $250, $500 for the second offense, then $2,500 for a third violation. The law requires smokers to puff at least 15 feet away from entrances or in outdoor beer tents. Bruce Finkelman, the owner of Chicago music club Empty Bottle, said, “I have friends who are hard-core smokers and hard-core music people who have basically told me, ‘You will see me for 45 minutes, and then I will leave.’ People have told me that they'll just spend more time at home."
Source: Chicago Tribune
New York City established its smoking ban in 2003. In addition to the predictable sparring between non-smokers and smokers, the regulation resulted in conflict between apartment dwellers and people lighting up outside. In Manhattan’s East Village, home to numerous bars and un-air-conditioned apartments, some tenants fled the neighborhood out of disdain for what local resident Ben Dietz called “drunken, smoking sidewalk slugs.” As East Village bar owner David Baxley pointed out, people trying to sleep with their windows open “hear every word that’s said out there.”
Source: New York Magazine
Opinion & Analysis: Going cold Turkey
According to Izgi Gungor, staff writer for the Turkish Daily News, “Some consider smoking to be one of two or three key components of Turkish social life,” and the ban on smoking will cause a drastic cultural shift in this tobacco-growing country. National health officials laud the parliamentary move, saying that it provides due protection to children and non-smokers. Recep Akdur, head of the public health department at Ankara University, said, “The law aims to raise the sensitivity of smokers toward the harms of smoking on both themselves and the people around them.” But others suspect that the true motives behind the ban are being concealed. “I think the ban is an indirect prohibition posed by the government to reduce alcohol consumption in the country,” said pub manager Timucin Gursan. Under Turkey’s Islamist-leaning AK Parti government, the country has seen its largest tax increases on tobacco and alcohol.
Source: Turkish Daily News
Istanbul-based English-language daily Today’s Zaman writes that some of the Turkish parliamentarians who voted for the ban stand to benefit the new legislation. Mehmet Tuncak, a member of parliament belonging to the ruling AK Parti, was originally going to speak on the parliament floor against the ban. Yet the morning that he was due to deliver the speech, he got news that a close relative of his was terminally ill owing to a smoking-related condition. He then ditched plans to speak against the new legislation and decided to kick the habit that morning.
Source: Today’s Zaman
The Sisli Municipality, a borough in Istanbul, in January 2006 was the first place in Turkey to enact a smoking ban. Pushed through by Mayor Mustafa Sarigul, considered to be a bit of a maverick, the law required that at least 20 percent of seating in bars and restaurants be set aside for non-smokers. Newspaper headlines decried the imposition of “American-style smoking laws," reported The Christian Science Monitor.
Source: Christian Science Monitor
Reference Material: Smoking bans around the world
The Washington Post compiled a list of European countries besides Turkey that have instituted either full-on bans or strict limits on smoking in bars.
Source: The Washington Post
The American Cancer Society summarizes the reasons to quit smoking and provides advice on how to kick the habit.
Source: American Cancer Society
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) has an interactive map showing smoking bans around the world.
Source: CBC
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