TURKEY: ANTI-SMOKING ADVOCATES PLEASED WITH EARLY RESULTS OF RESTAURANT/BAR BAN

Eurasia Insight
ticles/eav081109.shtml
8/11/09

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. Officials are well aware of public
opinion numbers that show over 90 percent of Turks support the ban,
but only 48 percent think it will prove durable.

Vigorous enforcement early on, then, may be the key to the ban’s
ultimate success. Already, over 2,500 official warnings have been
issued to smokers, and to proprietors who allowed smoking in their
establishments.

For owners and customers of bars; reactions have been mixed. In late
July, a cafe owner in the Tarlabasi District of Istanbul complained
about lost business. "I normally have three or four tables occupied
during the early evening, I’m now lucky if I have even one table,"
Tahir Silmaz said. "I won’t be able to survive like this, particularly
in the winter."

Outside another cafe two customers discussed their situations in
relation to smoking outdoors. Marat commented that he still smoked
inside the cafe sometimes in contravention of the ban. "It’s not
always safe to smoke outside. . . . Look around you; there are women
everywhere on this street. What happens if a man decides that I have
been looking at his wife or girlfriend? It could start a blood feud."

Sadly, there have been instances of violence related to the ban. On
July 29, four customers were asked to put out their cigarettes in
the town of Saruhanli, in southwestern Turkey. A fight broke out
and bar owner Hidir Karayigit, 46, was shot and killed, and his
business partner shot and injured. "I’m deeply saddened that the
first smoking-ban murder occurred in our town," the mayor Saruhanli
was quoted as saying by the Hurriyet Daily. "They either shouldn’t
have outlawed smoking or they should have outlawed alcohol along
with smoking."

Other owners have gone to extremes to circumvent the ban; including an
owner in Manisa who simply removed the roof of his establishment. There
is also an instance of a cafe in Istanbul where the proprietors
installed two garden hoses that run outside, one containing a lit
cigarette and the other hose for exhaling. In another case, a barber
in Konya moved all of his shop’s the chairs into the garden.

In most cases, however, the ban is proving effective. Dr. Toker
Ergâ"~â~U~]der of the World Health Organization is delighted so
far. "This is a very difficult period for Turkey, it’s in the top
10 smoking nations in the world; so far implementation has been very
good," Ergâ"~â~U~]der said.

Editor’s Note: Jonathan Lewis is a freelance reporter and photographer
based in Istanbul.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress