Turks balk at tobacco ban

[Euphoric]

Turks balk at tobacco ban

`Pulling down the shutters is the only way to stop smoking here. Every one of our customers smokes'
Feb 13, 2008 04:30 AM

ANKARA–Turkish smokers are vowing to defy a ban in bars and restaurants that will take effect next year, while antismoking campaigners accuse global cigarette makers of targeting the country as a key market.

Turkey is the eighth-biggest cigarette market in the world, where nearly 60 per cent of male adults are estimated to smoke. Six global cigarette producers and state-run Tekel compete for a share of it.

The World Health Organization says 80 per cent of tobacco-related deaths will occur within a few decades in developing countries like Turkey, as consumption levels off or even falls in other markets.

China alone accounts for a third of total cigarette consumption.

Antismoking campaigners hope Turkey's tobacco consumption will fall by at least 10 per cent as a ban in public buildings begins in May, and a wider ban including bars and restaurants takes effect in mid-2009.

The government hopes to change European Union candidate Turkey's image as a haven for smokers.

Such European states as Italy, Britain and Ireland have outlawed smoking in public places.

Anyone lighting up inside a public place in Turkey will be fined 57 lira ($47) but businesses say implementing the ban will be difficult.

"Pulling down the shutters is the only way to stop smoking here. Every one of our customers smokes," said Cengiz Erdogan, who runs an Ankara restaurant, nodding at its ceiling turned grey by heavy smoke.

Despite the threat of a 5,000 lira ($4,132) fine on businesses that allow smoking, bars will be reluctant to stop smokers because they fear losing more customers: the growing conservative middle-class is already increasingly shunning places where alcohol is served.

Islam prohibits alcoholic beverages and frowns on smoking.

Given the national drink, raki, is usually served with a second glass for water, Erdogan argued it will be particularly tricky for Turks to smoke outside as the law dictates: "You cannot go out with two glasses in one hand and a cigarette in another. This will interrupt conversations and spoil your night," he said.

Antismoking groups say international cigarette companies in the past picked the Middle East as a key market and distributed free cigarettes to promote them. They say the ban is the only way to stop cigarettes' disastrous effects on society.

"The cigarette's impact on Turkey is worse than terror. Every year, 117,000 people die due to cigarettes and we lose $2.5 billion every year due to diseases caused by smoking," said Semsettin Toprak from the Turkish Temperance Society.

He blamed cigarette-makers for testing their products in Turkey, saying Philip Morris was introducing higher-nicotine, shorter cigarettes in Turkey for the first time to adapt to coming restrictions.

"My people are used as guinea pigs. America and Europe saw the dangers and the cigarette companies have turned to developing countries like us," Toprak said.

Philip Morris International said its Marlboro Intense cigarettes, introduced in Turkey in November, comply with all applicable regulations.

"The tar and nicotine levels of Marlboro Intense cigarettes, as measured in accordance with Turkish regulations, are below the government prescribed ceilings for tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide," a company spokesperson said.

http://www.thestar.com/article/303079