Etiket smoking ban

Annika Sehn From 19 July 2009, one of the most stringent smoking bans of all Europe became fully effective in Turkey. Since then it is much harder for stressed workaholics in the office, for the depressed unemployed in the “kahvehane” and for the nonchalant party animal at the favourite bar to have a good smoke. Also the to puff on the famous cigarette with coffee, the one after dinner or the other one, which goes along so well with playing cards or backgammon means, you have to be outside or at home. Even the traditional nargile, the water pipe, which was a feature of the Ottoman culture for 400 years is included in the ban, to the annoyance of many consumers. “For me it’s impossible to have a good conversation without smoking nargile,” Doğucan, 23, a guest in “Marakeş”, located in Kadiköy, complains. “In Belgium people meet to drink beer and here it’s the water pipe, which gathers people together. It’s part of our culture.” Also in the “kahvehane”, where mostly men go to drink tea, play cards or backgammon and chat, smoking was more than a habit, if not an essential part of the coffee house tradition. Therefore, it has been the owners of these places, who came up with the loudest protest. Nearly 160 coffee shop owners, who light up in protest in the Marmara province Kocaeli at the beginning of August 2009 or a 10,000 strong rally in Ankara demanding the relaxation of the regulations by allowing separate “smoking sections” in coffee houses and bars are the most well known actions. But somehow more interesting than the question whether the ban led to a drop in business, is how the ban is enforced or even if it is enforced at all. An article in “Todays zaman” one […]