Todays smoking ban!

[Alex_BillaBoi_]

yeah thats true, does the smoking ban apply if your in a resturant with an in and an outside section? or can you still smoke in the out section of it?

[1gor2don]

Hi,
Very early days yet regards the smoking ban, but already signs that there are going to be severe consequences, with pictures in yesterdays papers of empty bars and restaurants in Instanbul.

Aside from our own feelings and thoughts on the subject, as tourists and ex pats, there is a very real issue for the Turkish economy. It has been predicted that as many as 1,000,000 people will lose their jobs in the traditional Turkish coffee houses, which are an ancient part of Turkish culture. Just what the country needs in this time of record unemployment.
 
Personally, yes I do smoke, I am not a heavy smoker, but there are certain circumstances that I do enjoy a cigarette in, I suspect in line with most smokers, and that is whilst having a beer, or after a meal. Sorry but thats just the way it is!LOL My apologies to non smokers, but the pendulum has now swung way too far it the other direction, although I dont expect any sympathy from non smokers.LOL

The problem is going to come in the interpretation of the law, which as usual in Turkey will be a nightmare, and I feel very sorry for the bar and restaurant owners who will be walking a very thin line.

Recently in the Turkish daily news I read that the ban on smoking in outside areas, which was originally included in the new law, has been delayed. The definition in the paper of an INSIDE area was an area with at least two sides and a roof.
That sounded quite promising, and should have allowed for a puff outside most bars and restaurants.

However, at the weekend the same paper then gave the definition of an OUTSIDE area as follows: An area that is open on all 4 sides, and where you can see the sky.
Now that is something quite different and I doubt that any bar or restaurant would actually qualify, in fact it seems to me that the only place you can smoke is in the middle of an open field!! It actually said that you cannot smoke under an umbrella!!

As I say, it will all be down to the interpretation of the rules, and if there are 14,000 Gestapo going around monitoring things, you can rest assured there will be 14,000 different interpretations, all of which will result in fines. The bar and restaurant owners do not stand a chance.

For example, I was in a restaurant in Hisaranu in Late April. We were sitting inside when the owner informed us that if we wished to smoke we would have to sit outside, as the Zabita were already inforcing the no smoking ban and several bars and restaurants had been fined already that day!!!!!!!! It didnt even start until the 19th of July!! So what chance has anyone got???

I am convinced that it will also have an impact on Tourism, not this year but surely next, no doubt you non smokers will argue that the numbers will rise,LOL but I am convinced they will fall.

I am sorry, but as much as I love Turkey it seems they are hell bent on shooting themselves in the foot all the time.

I dont expect any non smokers to agree with me, and during the summer if common sense is applied things may not change too much for bar and restaurants in tourist areas, unfortunately I dont think the same can be said for businesses in non Tourist areas. The problem is going to arise for those bars and restaurants that stay open in winter, when smoking outside is not going to be quite such an easy option. Personally I shall be doing what I did in the UK when the ban started, staying at home!! I may well not be typical of a smoker in that decision, but if I am then I see big trouble ahead for bars and restaurants.

Gordon

[Diverbaz 1]

It's a smoking ban, not the end of the world. It has been put in place to help people live longer and be heathier, and not to kill the person next to you, who could be your son or daughter you are murdering, because everybody knows smoking kills and you are doing it knowing you can kill them.

Use your intellegence, smoking is killing you.

No smokers will travel anywhere in europe any more cause there is also smoking bans there as well. what a boring world the smokers will live in, only smoking in their own homes killing their own families.

Baz (ex smoker:D)

[bewva]

Don't hold back Baz, Tell it how it is  

[tetmeister]

Lots of valid points Gordon.Along with the huge rise in break-ins,attempted abductions etc,Turkey has a lot to chew over at the moment.i'm a non-smoker,but I'm spending more time indoors protecting my castle and waiting for any petty chancer coming across its threshold,for which I have installed some welcoming treats.P.S Think once again,common sense should prevail with the smoking ,but probably won't;used to enjoy a roll-up and a pint meself at one time.

quote:Originally posted by 1gor2don

Hi,
Very early days yet regards the smoking ban, but already signs that there are going to be severe consequences, with pictures in yesterdays papers of empty bars and restaurants in Instanbul.

Aside from our own feelings and thoughts on the subject, as tourists and ex pats, there is a very real issue for the Turkish economy. It has been predicted that as many as 1,000,000 people will lose their jobs in the traditional Turkish coffee houses, which are an ancient part of Turkish culture. Just what the country needs in this time of record unemployment.
 
Personally, yes I do smoke, I am not a heavy smoker, but there are certain circumstances that I do enjoy a cigarette in, I suspect in line with most smokers, and that is whilst having a beer, or after a meal. Sorry but thats just the way it is!LOL My apologies to non smokers, but the pendulum has now swung way too far it the other direction, although I dont expect any sympathy from non smokers.LOL

The problem is going to come in the interpretation of the law, which as usual in Turkey will be a nightmare, and I feel very sorry for the bar and restaurant owners who will be walking a very thin line.

Recently in the Turkish daily news I read that the ban on smoking in outside areas, which was originally included in the new law, has been delayed. The definition in the paper of an INSIDE area was an area with at least two sides and a roof.
That sounded quite promising, and should have allowed for a puff outside most bars and restaurants.

However, at the weekend the same paper then gave the definition of an OUTSIDE area as follows: An area that is open on all 4 sides, and where you can see the sky.
Now that is something quite different and I doubt that any bar or restaurant would actually qualify, in fact it seems to me that the only place you can smoke is in the middle of an open field!! It actually said that you cannot smoke under an umbrella!!

As I say, it will all be down to the interpretation of the rules, and if there are 14,000 Gestapo going around monitoring things, you can rest assured there will be 14,000 different interpretations, all of which will result in fines. The bar and restaurant owners do not stand a chance.

For example, I was in a restaurant in Hisaranu in Late April. We were sitting inside when the owner informed us that if we wished to smoke we would have to sit outside, as the Zabita were already inforcing the no smoking ban and several bars and restaurants had been fined already that day!!!!!!!! It didnt even start until the 19th of July!! So what chance has anyone got???

I am convinced that it will also have an impact on Tourism, not this year but surely next, no doubt you non smokers will argue that the numbers will rise,LOL but I am convinced they will fall.

I am sorry, but as much as I love Turkey it seems they are hell bent on shooting themselves in the foot all the time.

I dont expect any non smokers to agree with me, and during the summer if common sense is applied things may not change too much for bar and restaurants in tourist areas, unfortunately I dont think the same can be said for businesses in non Tourist areas. The problem is going to arise for those bars and restaurants that stay open in winter, when smoking outside is not going to be quite such an easy option. Personally I shall be doing what I did in the UK when the ban started, staying at home!! I may well not be typical of a smoker in that decision, but if I am then I see big trouble ahead for bars and restaurants.

Gordon

[laffa]

Agree with Gordon about the effect on the pubs etc and people staying in, its happened here with lots of pubs in our area closing down,
I also agree with Baz, though I am a smoker, but Gordons post makes sense, especially how the law will be defined,If the ban has the impact its had here, then the restaurants and bars wil feel it,time will tell.

[Diverbaz 1]

Yes time will tell, but the smokers are making it sound like only smokers go drinking and eating, I think there are a lot more non smokers nowadays, who will still use the bars and restaurants, moreso now they don't have to put up with smokers at the next table.

Baz

[starman™]

The same stories were going around last year when they banned smoking in the malls and people were moaning it would kill the malls....well guess what, the malls are still there and just as busy.
Not sure where the article about bars and cafes being empty but as I live here, I have not seen any difference although for a photographer to go around and take photos of empty bars is just as easy now as it was last week or last year.
End of the day, Europe has gone this way and so has north america so it seems to be a trend the world is taking on, just like most countries fell into line when slavery was abolished or women got the vote or capital punishment. We have to get used to it and people will live around it and get used to it and carry on with their lives as they do every other day.

[julesbob0303]

Agree with you Baz and Starman.  As I said in an earlier post, we have friends (and family) who smoke, and, as long as there's an open space, I have no objection to sitting with them whilst they have a fag.  

BUT that's my choice.  I absolutely hate having smoke blown in my face whilst in a restaurant eating.  (I also objected to it very strongly when my kids were young.  Nothing worse than a tiny baby smelling of smoke, cos the parents smoke in the house, around the child.   )

As long as there are suitable places for smokers to go (as in the UK) I don't see a problem.  Many pubs are closing not because of the ban on smoking in pubs, but because of the recession.  People are losing jobs, prices are going up - people just don't have the money to go out.  [|)]  Also, the cost of beer, wine etc in supermarkets is now so low, more and more people stay in and invite friends round.  It costs a fraction of what it costs to go out.

As Starman says, most of Europe now has a ban on smoking, so most holiday spots will be the same.  Really don't think it will affect the tourist trade in Turkey at all.  It's just such a shame it has to affect people's livlihoods re jobs etc.  

Smokers are not going to agree with me obviously ....................

[stuart]

smokers have tunnel vision ..i know i was one!!
in new york your not even allowed to smoke in the street and that hasnt affected tourism.
the writing is on the wall... smoking kills!! and these laws are not going to go away.
however i believe they are not in force in egypt yet though!!