Smoking ‘violations’ to increase

Smoking-related illnesses cause 100,000 people in Turkey to die earlier than they otherwise would, according to a story in the Hurriyet Daily News citing a study by Ankara-based Hacettepe University.

The number of early deaths was said to call into question the efficacy of the country’s measures against cigarette sales and public smoking.

A smoking ban took full effect in 2009 in Turkey and outlawed smoking in all enclosed public places, including bars, cafés, restaurants, and hookah premises, but stopped short of private residences.

The study was conducted with a sample of 3,241 smokers and non-smokers.

One in five people age 15-24 use tobacco products, the study said, and 42.6 percent of smokers aged 18-34 started smoking cigarettes when they were between 15 and 17. About 19.5 percent said they started smoking after their 18th birthday, while about 16.0 percent said they started smoking before they were 15.

Fifty-seven percent of people said they had witnessed cigarettes being sold to under-aged people during the past six months, but 64 percent of them said they had not intervened to warn the storekeeper.

Meanwhile, the story said that Turkey’s Health Ministry was set to introduce a new plan to combat smoking that would involve increasing restrictions on tobacco companies and launching campaigns to raise awareness of the negative effects of smoking.

In part, the ministry is planning to expand the places from which tobacco smoking is banned and to award inspectors bonuses in proportion to the number of times they detect smoking-ban violations.