How did I miss this before? Here you go, all the radios in Greece. Fan-tas-tic…
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Well folks, it is real in Turkey too. From tomorrow on “smoking ban” which is started a while ago with minor effects is becoming EU style ban. Greece has already started this month 1st of July. So, I wondered what is the differences between Turkish and Greek smoking bans.
| Greece | Turkey | |
| Population | 11 million | 78 million |
| Smokers | 42% (number 1 in Europe) | 48% (number 1 in Middle East) |
| Yearly number of deaths because of smoking | 20.000 (~0.2% of the population) | 120.000 (~0.15% of the population) |
| 1 pkg. of cigarette costs | €3.5 | €2.3 |
| Starting Date | 1 July 2009 | 19 July 2009 |
| Fines if you smoke | upto €500 | smoker pays €30, place owner pays €2600 |
| If everybody smokes 1 pkg./day, and they stop smoking now. How much do we save? | €18.5 million/day €0.5 billion/month €6.7 billion/year |
€86 million/day €2.6 billion/month €31 billion/year |
And links:
Here is how Greeks see what is happening in Turkey
And here is how Turks see what is happening in Greece
A small note:
While reading Greek articles, I came accross more than 1 time, saying that “sultan Murat the 4th” has ban smoking in Ottoman in 1700′s. That is true but not all of it. He ban smoking because he was addicted. It is kind of a “Let’s stop together” campaign. But a bloddy one, people were finding people hanged on the trees every morning. He also ban “drinking alcohol” for a short while. Yeap you got it, he was alcoholic. 
UPDATE
2010-Aug-02 : According to the latest statistics Greeks are the (officially) number 1 in smoking. See below numbers.
World's Biggest Smokers: Greece is the winner !
After couple of years of intense relationship with Greek food; now I am finally ready to make some comments. I will start with some “BEST OF” brand names and update this post anytime there is a new winner. Here we go…
