Turkey is preparing to require identification cards for all cigarette purchases, a senior health official announced on Sunday.
Deputy Health Minister Åžuayip Birinci told a medical conference in Erzurum that the ministry is actively planning a system in which cigarettes would be sold only upon ID verification, similar to rules already in place in Japan. The disclosure was reported by Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency and independently confirmed by the financial daily Ekonomim.
Birinci was addressing the MedAI 26 Artificial Intelligence in Medicine Congress, hosted by Atatürk University. He described Turkey’s tobacco consumption as alarming. Turkey ranks second in the world for cigarette use after Indonesia, he noted, with daily per-person consumption reaching 17 cigarettes.
The deputy minister stressed that the first age at which children try smoking has fallen below 12. He added that 44 percent of all children in Turkey are exposed to secondhand smoke. These figures, he said, drove the ministry to search for stronger protective measures.
“The Japanese now give cigarettes to people only with an ID card. That is one of our plans, too,” Birinci was quoted as saying. His remarks mark the first direct confirmation from a senior health official that ID-based cigarette sales are under active consideration.
The proposal runs parallel to a larger 41-article draft bill, prepared with the Health Ministry’s backing, that seeks to fundamentally reshape tobacco regulation. That bill, reported by the news outlet Memurlar.net on April 12, 2026, would ban cash payments for tobacco products entirely. Under the draft, all sales would go through electronic systems that check age and identity before a transaction is approved.
Officials argue that removing cash from cigarette purchases makes it harder for minors to buy tobacco and reduces unregistered sales. The draft also proposes banning smoking in outdoor areas of restaurants, cafes, and patisseries, and would prohibit food and drink service in designated smoking sections.
Beyond these near-term restrictions, the bill sets a more sweeping target: a complete ban on the production, sale, and consumption of all tobacco and nicotine products by January 1, 2040. That includes electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco devices. Violators who continue trading after the deadline could face fines ranging from 1 million to 5 million Turkish lira, roughly $28,000 to $140,000 at current exchange rates.
The ID-card idea sits within a broader context of tightening tobacco control in Turkey. The country already bans smoking in most indoor public spaces, requires graphic health warnings covering 85 percent of cigarette packs, and prohibits tobacco advertising. Yet smoking rates remain high. Birinci told the conference that Turkish households spend about 15 billion dollars a year on tobacco products, while smoking-related health costs top 5 billion dollars annually.
Price remains a central tool in the government’s anti-smoking strategy. Birinci pointed out that Turkey sells some of the cheapest cigarettes in the world, ranking 108th globally in price. Research shows that raising prices by 10 percent in developing countries reduces smoking by roughly 7 to 8 percent, he said. The minister suggested that price increases, combined with access restrictions like ID verification, could deliver a meaningful drop in consumption.
The proposed ID measure and the wider tobacco bill have not yet been sent to parliament. No timeline for a vote has been set. Still, the deputy minister’s public remarks signal that the government intends to act, framing the changes as a fight to protect children and ease the long-term burden on the public health system.
As Turkey takes its next regulatory steps, other countries with high smoking rates are likely to watch closely. If enacted, the ID verification system would place Turkey among a small group of nations that have moved beyond age-of-sale laws to mandatory identity checks at the point of purchase.