Advantages of Ankara (1)

(Justin) I'm inspired by this recent post at Adventures in Ankara that examines why so many expats move to Turkey to list some reasons why we find Ankara appealing as expats. Rather than one large post, we'll break them up into smaller ones.

1. Smoking in Turkey is illegal in all public buildings and public transportation. The tossing of cigarette butts onto the ground is illegal littering.

I'm coming at this from both my experiences in Russia and Central Asia, where maybe 70% of men smoke and I've spent many an hour in smoke-filled tea houses and bus stations. And also from a Kentucky and Missouri perspective, where it's still common to find very smoky restaurants. Our parents live near some great restaurants that they can't go to because it's just too smoky.  We don't have that problem here, and it's wonderful! No suffocating taxi rides either.

One oddity to go along with this: imported movies and TV shows broadcast on TV here have the cigarettes covered over, usually by a picture of a flower or something; this is funny when you first see it.  Signs in the metro stations and elsewhere discourage people from smoking. Cigarettes are sold with large bold warnings in English that "smoking kills." 

You still see smoking areas outside of buildings, and usually plenty of young girls out there smoking like it's a fashionable thing (so many girls smoking is also an oddity from a Central Asian perspective). Plenty of people still smoke, but the current government has clearly made it a priority to reduce that number.

This might offend some libertarian sensitivities, but it's a breath of fresh air for us and an Ankara advantage.