Shops to be banned from displaying tobacco products

Meltem Özgenç – ANKARA

Cigarette packages will no longer be displayed in shops selling tobacco products and new regulations on their sales will be implemented, according to a statement by the Health Ministry.The statement also said cigarette brands will no longer be visible on packages according to the new regulation.Recep Akdağ, the health minister, said the rate of smokers over the age of 15 increased from 23.2 percent to 27.3 percent in the last four years, in a speech he delivered at parliament’s planning and budget commission.Akdağ’s plan aims to start a serious campaign against the use of tobacco products, adding that cigarettes would be placed in closed cabinets in shops and plain packaging for cigarettes would be introduced.The display ban came after a series of smoking regulations were implemented earlier this year under former Health Minister Mehmet Müezzinoğlu who prohibited the sale of all sorts of cigarettes on university campuses and reduced the number of outdoor public spaces for smokers.According to a study by Ankara-based Hacettepe University, almost 100,000 people die earlier than expected in Turkey each year due to smoking-related illnesses.