Tobacco Control in Turkey

Either in the World or in Turkey, the right of living healthy must be considered before economic concerns and interests in all decisions that will influence the health of the individual and population. However, marketing arrangement of tobacco products are currently under the custody of tobacco oligopoly. Custody of the existing oligopoly is quite effective on population due both to public relations and hidden/explicit campaigns. Therefore, new tactics and strategies that directly target tobacco industry are needed to know. In order to reduce tobacco use in the World and in Turkey, strategies for reducing supply of tobacco products are required in addition to the precautions implemented in Turkey to reduce demand. Therefore, action plans towards supply-reduction must predominantly take place in the National Tobacco Control Program (NTCP) that will be shaped after 2013 in Turkey. Tobacco industry’s money-making way of work and new tactics developed particularly for sales and marketing make the control almost impossible. Therefore, delivery of tobacco products to consumers must be provided, instead of tobacco industry, by non-profit organizations that completely adopt tobacco control measures. Thereby, manipulative tactics of the tobacco industry particularly at sales and marketing can be totally prevented and it will be easy to implement effective tobacco control policies that can reduce supply, with “plain/simple packaging” being in the first place. Any level of negotiation and collaboration at any step between the political power and the tobacco industry is acceptable because of the likely destruction for individual and public health. Within this frame, activities of the political mechanisms must be shaped in accordance with the spirit of Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) No. 5.3. Social responsibility projects that tobacco companies arrange or support to regain their reduced social legitimacy and donations and/or financial aids they provide to the public and/or civilian organizations must be totally rejected and foundations and institutions associated with tobacco industry must be announced to the public. © 2015, Turkish Thoracic Society.