he has ordered all managers who work in the Health Ministry to quit

The Health Minister of Turkey Mr. Recep Akdag is getting extremely serious about banning smoking in public places and reducing the number of smoking Turks. The Turkish smoking ban which is due for enactment on July 19th will extend to all restaurants and cafes as well as any other public places which are covered.

However Mr. Akdag has gone one step further and has ordered all managers who work in the Health Ministry to quit. He is arguing that they need to set a good example and that if they don’t quit they should give up their jobs. This has caused an uproar among the Health Ministry staff who are arguing that it is not fair that they are being picked on to quit.

Obviously people cannot be sacked for smoking but the Health Minister has highlighted the importance of practicing what you preach. It is no good health officials going around the country advising people about the dangers of smoking if they themselves are not prepared to quit the habit too.

The same can be said for parents who smoke and try to prevent their teenage children from getting their hands on cigarettes. In fact it is far more harmful for the parents to smoke than for the teenagers because of their age and they are the ones who should be stubbing out the cigarettes.

Peer pressure which is responsible for making people start smoking in the first place is also instrumental in getting them to quit too. If you are the only one in a group of friends still lighting up you risk becoming antisocial and ostracised. The reason why bans on smoking in public places are so effective is that they make smoking socially unacceptable and reinforce the public perception of its dangers.

Turkey which has its own industry of very strong Turkish cigarettes suffers from huge health problems as a result and it is hoped that this new ban will have an effect on lowering health care costs and improving the health overall of the nation.