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Research and Markets: Tobacco in Turkey  

The Tobacco in Turkey report offers a comprehensive guide to the size and shape of the market at a national level. It provides the latest retail sales data (2002-2007), allowing you to identify the sectors driving growth. It identifies the leading companies, the leading brands and offers strategic analysis of key factors influencing the market - be the new legislative, distribution or pricing issues. Forecasts to 2012 illustrate how the market is set to change.

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• Smoking ban decreases cigarette sales  

The July 19 expansion of the smoking ban to include restaurants, cafes, teahouses and bars has resulted in a significant drop in cigarette sales, which were 5.4 percent lower in July 2009 than a year ago.

According to data from the Tobacco and Alcohol Market Regulatory Agency, or TAPDK, the July decrease in sales amounts to 89,478,000 fewer packages of cigarettes sold.

Professor Elif Dağlı, the chair of the National Committee on Cigarettes and Health, or SSUK, said the implementation of similar laws in other countries has been shown to reduce consumption by 8 to 10 percent in the first six months. In the United States, she said, long-term decreases in sales have climbed to 27 percent.

"A 5.4 percent decrease in the first stage is much lower than our target but inspires hope for the future," said Dağlı, who added that the organization believes the results will improve in a few years through the continued implementation of the ban.

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• Cafe owners shun smoking ban, say many kahvehanes may close down 

The “kahvehane” -- the traditional Turkish teahouse where whiskered men have smoked, drunk tea and played cards, backgammon and dominos for centuries -- has seen better days.

If it was not enough that the worst economic crisis in the past 60 years has ravaged the country's employment and consumption figures and driven down kahvehanes' customer base by up to 50 percent, the smoking ban, which came into full effect last month, has caused an estimated loss of an additional 20 percent of customers. Even Ramadan, a period when the kahvehanes have historically experienced an explosion in business, does not seem to be providing any respite to the plummeting business.

The situation of kahvehane owners has deteriorated so badly in the aftermath of the smoking ban that they have threatened political action ranging from sit-ins to strikes or even hunger strikes if the government does not address their concerns.

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• Turks rally against smoking ban 

Hundreds of Turks have taken to the streets of Ankara to protest against a ban on smoking in bars and restaurants which was brought in last month.

Many of the protesters are cafe owners who say the ban is hurting trade and want smoking to be allowed in special areas of their establishments.

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土耳其全面禁烟令艰难中推行 初见成效 

国际在线报道（记者 侯一冰）：烟草大国土耳其上月19日在全国所有公共场所正式实行禁烟令。如今，三个多星期过去了，大部分民众对于禁烟的初步成效感到满意，但与此同时，禁烟令带来了许多负面影响，并遭到了烟草商和大部分咖啡馆、酒吧和饭馆经营者的反对。

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• Coffeehouse owners to demonstrate against smoking ban 

Coffeehouse owners are preparing to hold a demonstration next week against Turkey's indoor smoking ban, claiming that sales decreased since the ban went into effect on July 19. Murat Ağaoğlu, head of the Turkey Coffeehouses and Refreshment Stand Owners' Federation, stated yesterday that they are planning to have a protest in Ankara on Aug. 18.

“Our government did not take into consideration small-scale retailers' worries while adopting laws and regulations regarding a smoking ban one year ago. As representatives of small-scale retailers, we told the administrations our reservations. . . .

“Because of the ban, our coffeehouse owners are in a difficult position. They cannot pay their debts; they cannot conduct their business as easily as in the past,” he pointed out, adding that they are not against the smoking band but demand that smokers should be taken into consideration as much as nonsmokers.

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• Turkey: Anti-Smoking Advocates Pleased with Early Results of Restaurant/Bar Ban 

It's just over three weeks since a ban on smoking tobacco products indoors took hold in Turkey. Despite initial concern about how the public would react to prohibition, anti-smoking campaigners are so far delighted with the early results.

Now that the ban is in effect, authorities are shifting attention to enforcement, while continuing efforts to educate smokers and owners about the legislation, as well as raise awareness about the health risks associated with smoking. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. A nationwide team of over 4,000 anti-tobacco officers, comprising local officials and law-enforcement authorities, is responsible for following up on calls to hotlines, and for performing spot checks on establishments. An estimated 20,000 spot checks occurred during the first two weeks of the ban. These surprise visits indicated that 94 percent of the establishments inspected were conforming to the new rules; a figure that is a source of satisfaction for authorities.

But early implementation success is not breeding complacency within the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has been an outspoken proponent of the ban.

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No retreat from smoking ban, says health minister 

Health Minister Recep Akdağ has reaffirmed that Turkey will not backtrack on its complete ban on the use of tobacco products at indoor establishments, which comes into force on Sunday.

Akdağ stressed that no extra time would be given to shop owners to make the necessary adjustments to their business premises. “We are not happy with the idea of allowing extra time to cafes, restaurants or tourism agencies to make the adjustments to their premises that the law requires. Some European Union member countries did allow extra time to businesses before enforcing the full smoking ban, but later had great difficulty in carrying it out,” he stated.

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Turkey reports first "smoking-ban murder"  

A restaurant owner in southwest Turkey was shot dead after he tried to prevent his customers from smoking to comply with a new law on the use of tobacco indoors, Hurriyet daily said Thursday. . . .

"I'm deeply saddened that the first smoking-ban murder occurred in our town," Saruhanli Mayor Veli Yalcin told Hurriyet. "They either shouldn't have outlawed smoking or they should have outlawed alcohol along with smoking."

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I'm deeply saddened that the first smoking-ban murder occurred in our town. They either shouldn't have outlawed smoking or they should have outlawed alcohol along with smoking.
Saruhanli, Turkey, Mayor Veli Yalcin.

• Smoking leads to murder 

A smoker shot one man dead and wounded another after he was told to stub out his cigarette at a restaurant in Turkey in line with a recent government ban, the Anatolia news agency reported on Wednesday.

The gunman was drinking and smoking with friends in a restaurant in the town of Kumkuyucak, in the western province of Manisa, when the manager and his friend told them to put out their cigarettes, mayor Veli Yalcin told the agency.

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Turkey Ending its Love Affair With Tobacco 

A Turkish health commercial warns of the dangers of smoking, It says every year over 100,000 people die from smoking.

The commercial is part of the government's new campaign against smoking. This week the government introduced some of the toughest anti-smoking laws in Europe. Smoking is now banned in all closed public places, and that includes traditional tea and coffee houses.

For centuries Turks have passed the time sipping their tea and coffee with a cigarette. These smoke-filled rooms are iconic images of Turkey. But no more.

At the Keyif Coffee House the new ban has already hit hard, according to its owner.

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Turkey goes smoke-free with indoor smoking ban 

Turkey went smoke-free Sunday joining most European Union states as the government introduced a ban in bars, cafes and restaurants in hopes of breaking the national addiction to nicotine despite the protests of business owners.

Yet Turkey, an aspirant EU member and the world's 10th country in tobacco consumption, said health reasons propelled the ban which was strongly by tobacco hater Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and came into effect at midnight as businesses removed ashtrays forcing smokers to go out for a smoke.

" People spend $15 to $20 billion to buy cigarettes each year "

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Smoke ban officially extended to bars, restaurants 

Turkey -- a nation of smokers -- on Sunday extended a ban on indoor public smoking to bars, restaurants and even to the traditionally smoke-filled village coffeehouses.

The ban came into effect despite protests from bar and coffeehouse owners who fear it will ruin businesses that have already been hit hard by the economic crisis.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government barred smoking in offices, public transport and other public places in May 2008 in an effort to reduce the country's high smoking rate and the effects of passive smoking on people's health. Bars, restaurants and cafes were given a grace period that ended at midnight on Saturday.

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(GEN) SMOKING BAN TAKES EFFECT, CAUSES INTERESTING ALTERNATIVES 

The smoking ban took effect throughout Turkey on Monday with protests as well as appreciation, but resulted in interesting alternatives.

After the smoking ban in closed areas was put into effect in Turkey, a restaurant manager in the capital of Ankara found an alternative solution that would please his smoking customers.

Serkan Yilmaz, a restaurant manager in Ankara, is offering nicotine gum and many eggplant, consisting of nicotine, dishes to his clients.

"We will continue offering nicotine gum to our customers for some more time," Yilmaz said.

Yilmaz also said that he did not have any commercial intentions, and wished Turkish society would get used to this ban as soon as possible.

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EDITORIAL: Turkey enforces public smoking ban  

Smokers in Turkey can no longer light up in bars and cafes, after the government extended a smoking ban to all public places.

The ban has long been enforced in many European countries, but with more than 40 per cent of adults, or 25 million people, smoking in Turkey, many there may find it a hard habit to break.

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