http://www.tobacco.org/newsfeed/country/turkey.rss Latest top tobacco news headlines en-us http://www.todayszaman.com/newsDetail_getNewsById.action?newsId=268592 http://tobacco.org/news/332396.html Parliamentary Health Commission Chairman Cevdet Erdöl, the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) deputy who contributed to the “smoke-free air zone” law, has proposed a bill to Parliament demanding that nargile cafes should be closed. If the proposal is successful, water pipes, or nargile as they are popularly known in Turkey, will be treated as tobacco products and therefore banned from indoor spaces. According to Erdöl’s proposal, companies which produce flavored tobacco for nargile will not be permitted to offer free samples of their product to nargile cafes. Businesses will also be banned from using the logos and trademarks of tobacco companies in their trading name. Erdöl emphasised that cafes which primarily cater to nargile smokers will be closed permanently. Other businesses which offer customers the option to smoke nargile outdoors will be required to remove any references to nargile in their marketing. Businesses that break the proposed law will face a fine of between TL 50,000 and TL 250,000. Zaman Daily Newspaper Turkey Sun, 15 Jan 2012 05:00:00 GMT http://www.todayszaman.com/news-268592-nargile-cafes-to-be-closed-under-new-law.html http://tobacco.org/news/332032.html Parliamentary Health Commission Chairman Cevdet Erdöl, the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) deputy who contributed to the “smoke-free air zone” law, has proposed a bill to Parliament demanding that nargile cafes should be closed. If the proposal is successful, water pipes, or nargile as they are popularly known in Turkey, will be treated as tobacco products and therefore banned from indoor spaces. According to Erdöl’s proposal, companies which produce flavored tobacco for nargile will not be permitted to offer free samples of their product to nargile cafes. Businesses will also be banned from using the logos and trademarks of tobacco companies in their trading name. Erdöl emphasised that cafes which primarily cater to nargile smokers will be closed permanently. Other businesses which offer customers the option to smoke nargile outdoors will be required to remove any references to nargile in their marketing. Businesses that break the proposed law will face a fine of between TL 50,000 and TL 250,000. Zaman Daily Newspaper Turkey Sun, 15 Jan 2012 05:00:00 GMT http://www.todayszaman.com/news-267588-smoking-rate-decreases-by-15-percent-with-anti-smoking-law.html http://tobacco.org/news/331693.html Smoking has declined by 15 percent in Turkey since an amendment was made to Law 4207 on the Prevention and Control of Hazards of Tobacco Products four years ago, the chairwoman of the National Cigarette and Health Committee (SSUK) has said. Recalling that Jan. 3, 2008 was the date when the amendment was passed in Parliament, Elif Dağlı, in comments to the Anatolia news agency on Tuesday, said: “Four years have passed since the amendment came into effect, and it has yielded positive results during this time. The smoking rate has decreased by 15 percent and the number of people being admitted to hospitals for treatment for smoking-related diseases has decreased by roughly 20 percent in Turkey.” Expressing the SSUK's satisfaction with the effectiveness of the anti-smoking law, Dağlı thanked deputies for adopting such an effective and valuable amendment. Zaman Daily Newspaper Turkey Wed, 04 Jan 2012 05:00:00 GMT http://www.worldbulletin.net/?aType=haber&ArticleID=83879 http://tobacco.org/news/331444.html Smoking has declined by 15 percent in Turkey since an amendment was made to Law 4207 on the Prevention and Control of Hazards of Tobacco Products four years ago, the chairwoman of the National Cigarette and Health Committee (SSUK) has said. Recalling that Jan. 3, 2008 was the date when the amendment was passed in Parliament, Elif Dağlı, in comments to the Anatolia news agency on Tuesday, said: “Four years have passed since the amendment came into effect, and it has yielded positive results during this time. The smoking rate has decreased by 15 percent and the number of people being admitted to hospitals for treatment for smoking-related diseases has decreased by roughly 20 percent in Turkey.” Expressing the SSUK's satisfaction with the effectiveness of the anti-smoking law, Dağlı thanked deputies for adopting such an effective and valuable amendment. World Bulletin Turkey Wed, 04 Jan 2012 05:00:00 GMT http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/30/world/middleeast/turkish-airstrikes-kill-35-along-smuggling-route.html?_r=1 http://tobacco.org/news/331208.html The Turkish military said Thursday that it had accidently killed at least 35 Turkish cigarette smugglers in airstrikes after mistaking them for separatist fighters in the Kurdish border region with Iraq, infuriating many of Turkey's long-oppressed Kurds. Most of the dead were between 17 and 20 years old. New York Times Turkey Iraq Fri, 30 Dec 2011 05:00:00 GMT http://www.smh.com.au/world/turkish-airstrike-error-kills-35-smugglers-20111230-1pf5n.html http://tobacco.org/news/331207.html Turkish warplanes mistakenly killed 35 smugglers and other villagers in an operation targeting Kurdish rebels in Iraq, a senior official said - one of the largest one-day civilian death tolls during Turkey's 27-year drive against the guerrillas. The killings spurred angry demonstrations in Istanbul on Thursday and several cities in the mostly Kurdish southeast, and were the latest incident of violence to undermine the Turkish government's efforts to appease the aggrieved Kurdish minority by granting it more cultural freedoms. Huseyin Celik, a spokesman for Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling party, said authorities were still trying to identify the dead, but that most were youngsters from an extended family in the mostly Kurdish-populated area that borders Iraq. Associated Press Turkey Iraq Fri, 30 Dec 2011 05:00:00 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16352388 http://tobacco.org/news/331206.html A senior Turkish official has acknowledged that 35 civilians were killed in an air strike near a Kurdish village close to the border with Iraq. Turkey's military said earlier it had targeted suspected Kurdish militants. But the victims of Wednesday night's attack are believed to have been villagers involved in smuggling cigarettes into Turkey from Iraq. Governing party vice-president Huseyin Celik said an investigation was looking into possible intelligence failures. The attack, on Wednesday night, took place near the village of Uludere in Sirnak province in south-eastern Turkey. . . . The pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party condemned the air strike as a "massacre", saying that all the victims were civilians aged between 16 and 20. "Those killed were young people who made a living from smuggling. There were people studying for university exams among them," said party leader Selahattin Demirtas. BBC Online Turkey Iraq Thu, 29 Dec 2011 05:00:00 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/dec/29/turkish-air-strikes-iraq-border?newsfeed=true http://tobacco.org/news/331205.html The donkeys had been sent across Turkey's south-eastern border with Iraq to ferry vats of smuggled diesel and cigarettes. On Thursday when they came back it was with bodies wrapped in carpets lashed to their sides: the victims of a Turkish air raid that killed up to 35 villagers from this remote region. In a major embarrassment for Turkey's government, it was forced on Thursday to admit that the dead, originally described by the Turkish army as Kurdish separatist fighters from the banned PKK, were civilians, misidentified by Turkish drones and then bombed on Wednesday evening as they travelled close to the Iraqi border. A Turkish ruling party spokesman, Huseyin Celik, said the victims "were not terrorists" but smugglers, adding that officials were investigating possible intelligence failures that led to the strikes. He expressed regret for the deaths and suggested the government would compensate the victims. . . . According to local accounts, a group of people from the villages of Ortasu and Gulyazi were crossing the border from northern Iraq when they were blocked by soldiers on the path and then bombed at around 9.30pm on Wednesday. The attack, which Turkey's largest pro-Kurdish party called a "crime against humanity", sparked clashes between hundreds of stone-throwing protesters and police in Diyarbakir, the largest city in Turkey's restive mainly Kurdish south . . . Local politicians strongly denied that those killed were militants, insisting they were involved in smuggling instead. "We have 30 corpses, all of them are burned," said Fehmi Yaman, mayor of Uludere in Sirnak province. "The state knew that these people were smuggling in the region. This kind of incident is unacceptable. They were hit from the air." The Guardian reader@guardian.co.uk Turkey Iraq Thu, 29 Dec 2011 05:00:00 GMT http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2011/12/30/35-kurdish-tobacco-smugglers-killed-in-turkish-air-attack-115875-23667423/ http://tobacco.org/news/331204.html At least 35 people were killed when Turkish jets launched an attack on tobacco smugglers who had been mistaken for Kurdish rebels. Officials are investigating possible intelligence failures that led to the strikes. Ruling party spokesman Huseyin Celik expressed regret for the deaths and suggested the government would compensate the victims. The Mirror Turkey Iraq Fri, 30 Dec 2011 05:00:00 GMT http://www.todayszaman.com/news-266702-new-graphic-images-on-cigarette-packages-to-be-in-line-with-turkish-lifestyle.html http://tobacco.org/news/331127.html The Tobacco and Alcohol Market Regulatory Agency (TAPDK) has prepared new graphic images, which serve as a visual warning system against smoking, to reflect a Turkish lifestyle and social values. The TAPDK started warning smokers with both written statements and pictures as of Jan. 1, 2010. To make the graphic images on cigarette packages more effective, TAPDK worked in cooperation with the Ministry of Health, psychiatrists, academics and nongovernmental organizations' representatives to produce new images that are in line with the Turkish lifestyle. Zaman Daily Newspaper Turkey Sun, 25 Dec 2011 05:00:00 GMT http://www.todayszaman.com/newsDetail_getNewsById.action?newsId=266224 http://tobacco.org/news/330750.html The official figures of the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality Fire Department say some 12,500 of the total number of fires that occurred in İstanbul in the first 11 months of 2011 were caused by cigarettes. According to the figures, firefighters intervened in 24,691 fires in İstanbul. Among the causes of these fires, cigarettes come first Zaman Daily Newspaper Turkey Tue, 20 Dec 2011 05:00:00 GMT http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?id=n266012 http://tobacco.org/news/330314.html Kapitan Andreevo. Customs officers at the Kapitan Andreevo checkpoint seized some 10,193 boxes of cigarettes and 15.8 kilos of loose tobacco over a week, the press office of the National Customs Agency announced. The bigger part of the illegal tobacco products were found during thorough customs checks on vehicles, selected under the risk analysis method. Following the method customs officers found and confiscated 5,823 boxes or 116,460 pieces of cigarettes and 4.5 kilos of loose tobacco. Focus English News Turkey Bulgaria Sun, 11 Dec 2011 05:00:00 GMT http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?id=n265825 http://tobacco.org/news/330146.html Lesovo. Customs officers seized smuggled cigarettes hidden in five vehicles at the Lesovo checkpoint. The cars were with Bulgarian registration. The illegal tobacco products were found during routine checks made over the last couple of days, the Customs Burgas reports. Focus English News Turkey Bulgaria Thu, 08 Dec 2011 05:00:00 GMT http://sg.finance.yahoo.com/news/Turkey-seeks-to-slow-imports-apf-470327586.html http://tobacco.org/news/327659.html Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek said Tuesday the government aims to use the new tax to restrict imports of mobile phones, alcohol, tobacco products and motor vehicles with engines larger than 1.6 liters. Associated Press Turkey Tue, 18 Oct 2011 04:00:00 GMT http://www.todayszaman.com/news-260088-cigarette-prices-increase-by-up-to-44-percent-following-latest-tax-hikes.html http://tobacco.org/news/327651.html Recent tax hikes introduced by the Turkish government last week prompted a major Turkish-US consortium cigarette producer to increase cigarette prices by between 28 and 44 percent. Philsa Philip Morris, a consortium of US cigarette producing giant Philip Morris and Turkish giant conglomerate Sabancı Holding, announced on Monday that the company had to revise cigarette prices due to new high taxes announced by the government. The Turkish government on Thursday raised the private consumption tax (ÖTV) on cars and mobile phones as well as on tobacco and alcoholic products and will collect $3 billion in extra revenue per year. The tax hikes came as measures to curb the imports of certain products, while also increasing revenues at a time of intensifying global risks. Zaman Daily Newspaper Turkey Mon, 17 Oct 2011 04:00:00 GMT