Fighting ‘smoking like a Turk’

“Smoking like a Turk,” a phrase often heard from European lips, may become obsolete from Sunday when Turkey joins the growing trend of countries banning smoking in enclosed areas, such as bars, cafes and restaurants.

Although Turkey has a sizable number of smokers, nearly 35 percent of all adults smoke, the public overwhelmingly supports the nationwide smoking ban.

Ninety percent of Turks support the smoking ban, according to a survey by Istanbul-based Quirk Global Strategies. Smokers are among the backers of the law, and support is consistent across demographic and geographic segments of society.

Yet, more than half of the public – 54 percent – is still concerned that the ban will not be properly enforced.

Can Erden, a young adult who works in the public relations sector and has been smoking for eight years, says he thinks the ban will not be properly implemented at nightclubs and bars.

But this is not Turkey’s first brush with restrictions on smoking.

The law’s first phase has prohibited smoking in public places and workplaces since May 2008 and has received overwhelming support from the public. The partial ban has increased support for further smoking restrictions; the survey showed that support for the second phase, the total ban, has increased significantly.

Many believe that the law will protect families, children and nonsmokers from the health risks of secondhand smoke, according to the survey, which was released last week.

Worries of being avoided

Criticism from representatives of the entertainment and service sectors, such as coffeehouses and restaurants, has raised fears about the implementation of the ban.

They claim that they risk losing revenues because there will be fewer customers. Ziya Kalaycı, vice president of the Chamber of Istanbul Restaurants, is one of the sectors’ representatives voicing concern about the consequences of the ban on businesses. Although he favors the ban, he nevertheless believes that the implementation will be problematic. Owners and managers of restaurants will have to argue with customers who will insist on smoking inside, he said. “They will go out and stand in front of the door to smoke, but after a while they will not come back,” he told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review.

But worries that customers will avoid smoke-free restaurants, bars and cafes are unfounded, according to the findings of the survey. In fact, nearly nine out of 10 people would either go out more often or not change their dining habits. The survey revealed that 45 percent said they would frequently go to smoke-free establishments. Another 41 percent said it would make no difference to them. Just 11 percent said they would go out less often.

The business owners were also concerned about fines. “We are neither informed about the law nor about the fines,” Kalaycı said. “Most probably the management will have to pay more than the smoker, and it will lead us to bribe the person that comes and fines us.” Turkey would become the third country in Europe and sixth in the world in terms of applying strict sanctions on violating the ban, according to experts.

Head of Cigarette and Health National Committee, or SSUK, Elif Dağlı said Turkey has gained international appreciation for the step it is taking.

She also underlined that the law will not harm businesses. “The number of nonsmokers is higher than the number of smokers in Turkey, so people will prefer the places that are smoke free. This will increase their profit,” she said.

The rumor that businesses will have a hard time surviving was started by the tobacco industry, said Green Crescent’s smoke-free project coordinator, Tuba Durgut. “The ban on smoking has revived the economy in most of the countries abroad,” she said, adding it was the tobacco industry that might lose profits but not the service industry.

Durgut said the Turkish law was a major leap forward when compared with current practices in other developing countries. “I realized that the law that Turkey is enforcing is something that other developing countries can’t even imagine to impose,” said Durgut, who attended conferences worldwide on smoking bans.

Green Crescent, which is a nongovernmental organization that fights against smoking, alcohol and drugs, is one of the biggest supporters of the law. They conduct campaigns, put up posters, distribute flyers and broadcast commercials. Describing the law as a public health revolution, Durgut said they would continue working on this project and plan to remind people about the law in October again because it’s the time when people start to prefer indoor places.

Another organization active in supporting the campaign for a smoke-free Turkey is the World Health Organization, which also aims to reduce the percentage of smokers in Turkey. The government will also work on raising the prices of cigarettes. “When compared to EU countries, Turkey sells cigarettes for the cheapest price,” said Toker Ergüder, who works for WHO’s National Tobacco Control Program.

The ban will not affect production, according to Ergüder. The Turkish government collects about $8.5 billion a year in taxes on tobacco products and spends about half that amount treating smoking-related illnesses, he said. The money spent on cigarette consumption is $20 billion per year in Turkey – much more than the annual budgets of the Health Ministry and the Education Ministry.

But members of the Tobacco Experts Union do not agree that production will not be affected, even though they back the ban. Oktay Çelik, the head of the union, believes the government, which supports the smoking ban, will not support tobacco production.

“People think that when smoking is outlawed, the production of tobacco, which brings $600 million to Turkey, will also be banned,” Çelik said. “Of course, the ban will raze production.”

Where, when and how

While the law will go into effect this weekend, its content is not widely known around the country. But there are precise answers to questions among the public about how, where and when the law will be implemented.

Smoking will be prohibited in entertainment places such as restaurants, cafes, cafeterias, and bars. Smoking will not be allowed at social association venues; health, education and culture establishment buildings; airports; bus stops; stations; terminals; and harbors. But nursing and rehabilitation centers for seniors, neurological disorder hospitals and prisons will establish specific areas for smoking.

Ferries and stadiums will also construct separate areas for those who smoke and hotels will have rooms for smokers. Businesses will be warned with a written notification first if they allow smoking indoors, and unless the management follows the law, it will have to pay a fine between 500 and 5,000 Turkish Liras. Those who throw their cigarettes on the street will pay 20 liras.

The Health Ministry has established a phone number for those who want to report violations of the law. The countrywide number is 184. Yet before calling this number, the procedure of informing the authorities in case of violations is as follows: If a client lights a cigarette in a restaurant, the owner or one of the waiters should tell him or her to put out the cigarette or smoke outside of the building. If the warning is ignored, the waiters must stop serving him. If the person continues smoking, the police should be informed.

After Sunday, smoking in enclosed public spaces will carry a fine of 69 liras per cigarette. Moreover, separating several floors of buildings as smoking areas will no longer be allowed in enclosed public areas.

The open places of shopping malls are excluded from this practice.

The Istanbul governorship will appoint policemen in plainclothes to monitor whether people are smoking in forbidden areas or cigarettes are sold to youth below 18 years of age.

Killing a culture with the ban

The ban, which states that smoking of any kind will be forbidden in enclosed areas, includes nargile (water pipe) cafes. While some nargile cafe managers argue that the substance used in nargiles should be an exception because it is made out of sugar cane and not tobacco, the law makes clear that nargile, including herbal ones, will not be smoked indoors.

But Hikmet Parladı, the owner of a nargile café in Tophane, a district famous for its nargile cafes, told the Daily News that the nargile is accepted as tobacco. “Even though I smoke cigarettes, I support the new law but banning nargiles will kill our business here in Tophane. Nobody would come here to drink tea or coffee,” he complained. Many other managers believe the ban will hit their tills as well, and some say they will likely change their nargile cafes into bars.

Parladı said the nargile is a part of Ottoman culture and that many people already object to the ban.

The Nargile Café Managers Union, established by those who run cafes in Tophane, sent petitions to the government not to ban the nargile but the reply was always negative. Kemal Özmen, the head of the union, agreed that it would definitely affect their already declining businesses and said they still did not receive any notifications about the law. “Because we don’t know much about the law, we couldn’t take concrete steps,” he said. “Our customers are devoted to Tophane more than us. The tour guides bring tourists here.”

The smoking ban

1. Smoking is prohibited in all enclosed spaces, including those at restaurants, cafes, coffee houses, bars and all entertainment centers, in public-transportation vehicles (including taxis), in both open and enclosed spaces at education facilities and at all facilities that host open-air artistic or sporting events. Special enclosed spaces can be assigned within these facilities for smoking, but cannot exceed 50 percent of the total space.

2. Smoking is not banned in prisons, nursing homes and mental hospitals, or on the decks of sea-transportation vehicles that travel between different cities and countries. However, there must be a special area assigned for smoking that children will not be able to enter.

3. Smoking is allowed in gardens as long as the proper equipment is installed to ensure that nonsmokers are not bothered by cigarette smoke.

4. Smoking is prohibited under umbrellas erected in gardens. Smoking is allowed only if all four sides of an area are open and the sky is visible.

5. Hotels will be able to have rooms where smoking is allowed, but children will not be able to stay in such rooms.

6. Entrepreneurs will not be able to open new restaurants or bars where smoking is allowed.

7. Smokers violating the law will be fined 69 Turkish Liras.

8. Bars and restaurants that violate the law will be fined 560 liras. If the violation is repeated, the fine will be increased to 5,600 liras.

9. Cigarettes will not be sold at health, education, entertainment or sports centers.

10. Provincial smoking-control councils are being established by the Health Ministry. After July 19, inspection teams will be fining violators of the new law, which the Treasury expects to provide a serious monetary infusion into the budget.

11. People with smoking-related complaints can call the 184 hotline, go to the police or apply to one of the provincial “Cloudless Air Space” centers.