Turkey's ban on pubic smoking goes into effect on Monday, May 19, 2008..

May 19, 2008 -  Under the provisions of the "Law to Prevent the Dangers of Tobacco Products" smoking will be banned in enclosed areas of all public buildings -including the corridors- education and health institutions, cultural and sports centers and on all public transportation. Those who defy the ban will be fined 50 YTL ($40.65), a fine of 20 YTL ($16.25) will also be imposed for discarding empty cigarette packets and cigarette butts in the street. The ban will be introduced in restaurants, coffeehouses and cafeterias as of July 19, 2009. But, if these places share a space with trade centers, cinemas, airports, bus terminals, sports and entertainment centers or shopping malls, which are not allowed to have designated smoking areas, then they, too, will be subject to the ban beginning today. Also, The brand names of cigarettes, producer names, logos and other symbols connected to tobacco products are banned from advertisements under the law. References: Turkey's "public places smoking ban" goes into effect on Monday, hurriyet.com, 5/19/2008 and Smoke-free life begins in Turkey as of today, Today's ZAMAN, 5/19/2008. In Turkey Philip Morris International (PMI) has 41% of the cigarette market share and British America Tobacco (BAT) on acquiring Tekel, Turkey’s state-owned cigarette company, goes from 7% to 36% of the market. ( BAT in $1.7bn deal for Turkey's state-owned cigarette group Timesonline) PMI is test marketing Marlboro Intense in Turkey. Turkey signed the WHO FCTC public health treaty on April 28, 2004 and it was ratified on December 31, 2004. (TobaccoWatch.org)