Türkiye aims to keep up the momentum in its fight against tobacco smoking, which claims thousands of lives annually, by highlighting the dangers of the deadly habit and enticing smokers to give it up. On the heels of the "Quit Smoking, Start Changing in 48 Hours" campaign started by the Directorate of Communications to raise awareness among young people, Türkiye is pushing ahead on its mission to stub out the habit.

Esra Albayrak, a board member of the nonprofit Green Crescent (Yeşil Ay), which tackles smoking and other drug addictions, draws attention to the dangers of tobacco by exhibiting the possessions of individuals who died as a result of smoking in Üsküdar, Istanbul.

The Üsküdar Municipality organized an event in Üsküdar Square together with the "Initiative to Protect Children from Tobacco Epidemic and Harms" and youth against the tobacco industry in order to explain the harms of smoking. Within the scope of the event, 350 items remaining from people who lost their lives due to smoking were exhibited, with the names and ages of the deceased written next to the items.

The exhibition was headed by Albayrak and attended by Justice and Development Party (AK Party) Istanbul Deputy Müşerref Tuba Durgut, Rector of Health Sciences Dr. Cevdet Erdöl and Üsküdar Mayor Hilmi Türkmen.

"Tobacco does more than double the damage of COVID-19 in a year," said Dr. Erdöl in his speech at the event. "We need to remind you all that we lose 350 people every day here. Isn’t tobacco an epidemic? The whole world experienced the COVID epidemic for two years and lost over 120,000 a year but the loss done by tobacco is more than double and never-ending. This is a very harmful weapon. It is perhaps the greatest weapon of mass destruction that the world has ever known. Even the atomic bomb did not harm mankind that much. We are exposed to this poison every time," he added.

Albayrak, on the other hand, outlined the negative effects of e-cigarettes, emphasizing that the product is the tobacco industry's "new trick." She stressed that this huge criminal enterprise tries to capture young people's attention by disseminating false information and confusing them, suggesting that e-cigarettes are safer and less harmful. Emphasizing the importance of increasing public awareness, Albayrak added, "This fight affects us all, but our youth are most affected. Because the target is you. These industries look for people who can be persuaded to smoke cigarettes easily. Your well-being is important to us."

Üsküdar Mayor Hilmi Türkmen said the event was significant and noted that over the past 20 years, many major steps have been taken in this area. Türkmen stated that within the framework of these services, groundbreaking decisions were made in the fight against tobacco, adding that it was crucial to decide whether to ban smoking inside, in coffee shops, on buses and in airplanes. "Our president made decisions that were both revolutionary and quite firm," he underlined.

The visitors also expressed their admiration for such an exhibition. Parents in particular pushed the organizations to routinely host these exhibitions and events to combat young tobacco use.

Finally, Albayrak stressed that it would be a great step to forbid the sale of all kinds of tobacco in Türkiye in order to safeguard the youth as our common goal is to fight for the right to a healthy life and smoke-free air.