[Intl-tobacco] Turkey: Help Stop Big Tobacco/Government "Youth Campaign" in Turkey!
Robert Weissman
rob@essential.org
Sun, 03 Feb 2002 17:29:15 -0800
*************************************************************
TAKE ACTION! - Stop Big Tobacco's "Youth Campaign" in Turkey!
*************************************************************
Dear Friends,
In January 2002, Turkey's Minister of Privatization Yilmaz Karakoyunlu
launched a "youth smoking prevention" program in collaboration with
Philip Morris and Japan Tobacco International. Several newspapers have
also reported that the World Bank country director for Turkey, Ajay
Chhibber, is supportive of the program.
As internal tobacco industry documents clearly show, such
industry-sponsored programs have nothing to do with lowering youth
smoking rates and everything to do with thwarting effective tobacco
control legislation. The key to the programs' credibility is in the
involvement of the government and/or reputable organizations.
GPTC participant Elif Dagli (National Committee on Tobacco or Health -
Turkey) and her colleagues successfully fought a similar program in the
past. They need our assistance to win one more time!
Please find below: 1) Information on how to TAKE ACTION! 2) Further
background information.
**** To maximize the impact of this letter writing campaign, please
forward this action alert to your colleagues, members, and listservs.
You might also write a letter for others in your coalition to sign onto.
And if you work with a youth group or school, consider turning this into
a group/class activity! ****
************
TAKE ACTION!
************
Please send faxes* (and emails) to the following people. Short messages
are fine! Tell them: 1) Philip Morris and Japan Tobacco International's
"youth smoking prevention" program in Turkey is a sham. Such programs
are a common tobacco industry strategy for gaining credibility and
thwarting meaningful tobacco control regulations around the world. 2)
The Turkish government should protect the health of its citizens, not
the profits of big tobacco companies. It should immediately cease its
involvement with the program!
If you have time, we encourage you to include examples from the
additional background information below. Feel free to use any relevant
text from Essential Action's website.
* If you cannot send international faxes, email your message to
Essential Action <awhite@essential.org> and we will fax it for you.
NAMES & CONTACT INFORMATION:
Mr Yılmaz Karakoyunlu
Minister of Privatization (Turkey)
Fax: +90 312 491 80 80
Email: ykarakoyunlu@domi.com.tr
Mr Bulent Ecevit
Prime Minister (Turkey)
Fax: +90 312 417 04 76
Mr. Ahmet Necdet Sezer
President (Turkey)
Fax: +90 312 427 13 30
Mr. Ajay Chibber
Country Director, World Bank (Turkey)
Fax: +90 312 446 24 42
Email: Achhibber@worldbank.org
Message for Mt. Chibber: 1) Why is the World Bank lending public support
to this bogus "youth smoking prevention" campaign?! The International
Monetary Fund and World Bank just forced Turkey to pass a law that
further opens the country's tobacco sector to multinational tobacco
companies, as a condition for receiving loans. Why make the situation
worse? 2) Such practices conflict with the World Bank's stated interest
in tobacco control. 3) If the World Bank is not in support of the youth
program, it needs to issue a press release to that effect.
Please also email &/or fax copies of your letters to:
Elif Dagli <edagli@superonline.com>, Fax: +90 216 411 90 46
Essential Action <awhite@essential.org>, Fax: +1 202-234-5176
**********************
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
**********************
Turkey and Tobacco
In response to Turkey's severe economic crisis in late 2000, the
International Monetary Fund and World Bank forced the country to pass a
law enabling the privatization of the state alcohol and tobacco
enterprise TEKEL, as a condition for receiving over $15 billion in
loans. Privatization of state tobacco monopolies is bad news for
tobacco control. State tobacco monopolies are inefficient, have little
motivation to advertise aggressively, and do not usually oppose tobacco
control legislation. In many countries, opening up the tobacco market to
multinationals has increased the overall smoking rate.
Before the tobacco sector law passed in January 2002 a second (and
final) time, it met much resistance from TEKEL employees, tobacco
farmers, government officials, and the public health community. Turkey's
former Minister of Privatization was forced to resign over comments that
he made regarding it. And the Turkish President vetoed it the first time
around.
The new Minister of Privatization, Yılmaz Karakoyunlu, has close ties to
multinational tobacco companies. On January 21, he, Philip Morris, and
Japan Tobacco International officially launched a "youth smoking
prevention" program. According to Elif Dagli, Karakoyunlu was probably
the only Turkish Minister that the tobacco industry could get to
co-sponsor the program. And discussions about launching a youth program
began during the controversy over the tobacco sector law - a conflict of
interest for the Minister.
This is not the first time that Philip Morris has used its "youth
smoking prevention" program strategy in Turkey. In the early 1990s the
company sought to partner with the Ministry of Education, in order to
thwart a ban on tobacco advertising. An internal Philip Morris document
has more details (the last page says it all!)
http://www.pmdocs.com/getallimg.asp?if=avpidx&DOCID=2501362209/2212
At the January news conference Minister Karakoyunlu acknowledged that
Ajay Chhibber, the World Bank's Country Director for Turkey, also
supported the youth program. Several newspaper have reported this.
Chhibber has not yet confirmed or denied his support, and probably does
not want to be put in the position of calling Karakoyunlu a liar.
Turkish tobacco control activists are calling on the World Bank to issue
a press release confirming its position.
Why Are Tobacco Industry "Youth Smoking Prevention" Programs a Sham?
Check These Links Out!
International Tobacco Accountability Bulletin
Tobacco Industry "Youth Smoking Prevention" Programs
I - http://www.essentialaction.org/itab/0202.html
II - http://www.essentialaction.org/itab/0203.html
Take Action! - Tobacco Industy "Anti-Tobacco" Youth Programs
(March 2001)
http://www.essentialaction.org/tobacco/aofm/0103/
“Youth Campaign for Latin America,” Cathy L. Leiber, Director,
Corporate Affairs, Latin American Region, 23 September 1994
http://www.pmdocs.com/getallimg.asp?DOCID=2503016523/6524
>From Anne Landman's doc-alert listserv:
Philip Morris stated objectives for a youth program in the
U.S. include "achieve a level of greater credibility," "blunt
rhetoric," "more global: Create a model for world-wide use"
http://www.smokescreen.org/list/det.cfm?listid=66&MessageID=205185&SearchString=
Document:
http://www.pmdocs.com/getallimg.asp?if=avpidx&DOCID=2041191424/1432
This internal Philip Morris email succinctly sums up the
company's public relations purpose behind PM's "It's the Law"
youth access program: "We have two objectives for the ITL
[It's The Law] program -- 1) To provide an alternative to
legislative/mandated policy actions; and 2) To improve PM's
image regarding the youth issue." It does not mention that a
goal of the PM program is reducing youth smoking.
http://www.smokescreen.org/list/det.cfm?listid=66&MessageID=206878&SearchString=
Document:
http://www.pmdocs.com/getallimg.asp?if=avpidx&DOCID=2023587951
This internal Philip Morris (PM) memo reveals that Philip
Morris' will not use youth smoking prevention programs if they
are perceived as having questionable credibility and
generating controversy. If an increasing number of people
publicly question the credibility of industry-sponsored youth
smoking prevention programs (and if fewer organizations can be
persuaded to endorse these programs) clearly the less likely
the industry will be to continue using them.
http://www.smokescreen.org/list/det.cfm?listid=66&MessageID=206320&SearchString=
Document:
http://www.pmdocs.com/getallimg.asp?if=avpidx&DOCID=2023587943
----------
Anna White
Global Partnerships for Tobacco Control
Essential Action
P.O. Box 19405
Washington, DC 20036
Tel: +1 202-387-8030
Fax: +1 202-234-5176
Email: awhite@essential.org
http://www.essentialaction.org/tobacco