Tobacco — Turkey

Turkey's indoor smoking ban is one of the widest in Europe and it expressly covers hookah. Article 2 of Law 4207 bans tobacco use in the enclosed areas of public buildings; in the enclosed areas of any privately owned building that more than one person can enter for education, health, production, commerce, social, cultural, sport or entertainment purposes, corridors included (homes excepted); in all road, rail, sea and air public transport including taxis, and in the driver's seat of a private car; in both the enclosed AND open areas of pre-school, primary and secondary schools and of culture and social-service buildings; and in restaurants, coffeehouses, cafeterias and beer halls. Designated smoking areas are allowed only in elderly care homes, psychiatric hospitals, prisons and on the decks of intercity or international passenger ships (no one under 18 may enter them), plus smoking rooms in hotels. At open-air sport, culture, arts and entertainment venues, including spectator areas, tobacco use is banned but a designated area may be set up. Article 2(6) counts any hookah or cigarette that imitates a tobacco product as a tobacco product even if it contains no tobacco.

Law 4207 does not itself carry a figure for the smoker: art. 5(1) says a person who consumes tobacco in the places listed in art. 2(1) and 2(4) is punished under art. 39 of the Misdemeanours Act No. 5326, which is where the fine is set. The figures the Law does state are for others: a business operator who fails to enforce the ban is fined 1,000 to 5,000 Turkish lira by the local civil administrator (art. 5(2)), and throwing cigarette butts or similar waste in a public area carries 50 Turkish lira applied by municipal police, which may be waived if the person clears the mess immediately (art. 5(1), second sentence).

Verified Oct 3, 2026