Tobacco smoking

Illicit tobacco products and cigarette trade and their consumption have been on the rise in Turkey, costing the state billions of Turkish Liras in tax revenues.

It is estimated that the size of illicit tobacco products accounts for more than 20 percent of all trade volume in this industry.

Restoration works at the Historical Esgher Synagogue in Istanbul's Beyoğlu district will be finished soon. The historical building will serve as the Beyoğlu Municipality Hasköy Youth Center and National Library.

Electronic cigarettes and novel tobacco products have been around for more than a decade as alternatives to cigarette smoking, which kills nearly 700,000 people in the EU every year. However, they remain a controversial issue and the EU is still hesitant about how to treat them legally.

The European Commission is calling for stricter actions on tobacco regulations in a bid to have a tobacco-free generation in the EU by 2040. However, the global number of smokers continues to grow.

Electronic cigarettes and novel tobacco products have been around for more than a decade as alternatives to cigarette smoking, which kills nearly 700,000 people in the EU every year. However, they remain a controversial issue and the EU is still hesitant about how to treat them legally.

Around 17 million people among Turkey's population of 83 million still smoke despite years-long efforts to discourage people from smoking, an expert said on National No-Smoking Day on Feb. 9.

But Murat Ağırtaş, the provincial health director of the Central Anatolian province of Kırıkkale, said Turkey dropped in the ranking of a list of heavy-smoker countries.

Tobacco kills more than 8 million people globally every year. More than 7 million of these deaths are from direct tobacco use and around 1.2 million are due to non-smokers being exposed to second-hand smoke.

Turkish authorities on May 30 sent official orders on recent decisions to ease restrictions related to the novel coronavirus as the country made advances in its fight against the pandemic.

The Interior Ministry ordered local officials to allow restaurants, cafes, patisseries, coffee shops, and similar venues to open daily until 10.00 p.m. local time, as of June 1.

The Turkish government intends to ban the sale and import of e-cigarettes, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca announced, BTA reported.

The matter will be discussed in Parliament.

In July, customs officers from the Directorate of Customs Intelligence and Investigation and the Southern Maritime Territorial Directorate detained 1,280,000 pieces / 64,000 boxes / duty-free cigarettes, 102 kg of smoking tobacco and 51 kg of hookah tobacco.