BMC Public Health 2008, 8(Suppl 1):S4 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/8/S1/S4 Introduction The tobacco control effort in Turkey has made significant progress in recent years. In December 2004, Turkey ratified the World Health Organization (WHO) Frame- work Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) [1,2]. The WHO FCTC encourages countries to develop and imple- ment national tobacco control action plans, including public policies such as: bans on direct and indirect tobacco advertising; raises in tobacco tax and price; promotion of smoke-free public places and workplaces; and provision of health messages on tobacco packaging. Turkey has exerted a great effort to meet the requirements of the WHO FCTC in a timely manner. In 2005, the Ministry of Health (MOH) formed a working group, including participants from non-governmental organizations, universities, and other relevant institu- tions, to develop goals and objectives for a National Tobacco Control Program (NTCP) for Turkey. With regard to the prevalence of tobacco use, the working group produced two main objectives: to reduce the prevalence of tobacco use by adults (aged 15 years and over) to 20% by the year 2010; and to reduce the prevalence of tobacco use by youths (<15 years of age) to zero by 2010. The government of Turkey approved the implementation of the NTCP on December 27, 2007. In addition, as recommended by the working group, the MOH has presented to the National Grand Assembly some amend- ments to Law 4207 (The Prevention of Harmful Effects of Tobacco Products) [3]. Law 4207 initially included provisions banning advertising of tobacco products, sale of tobacco products to minors, and smoking in public places. The proposed amendments to Law 4207 include additional provisions, such as: extending the scope of restrictions on consumption of tobacco and tobacco products in public areas; prohibiting the sale of tobacco and tobacco products through vending machines; and prohibiting the appearance of smoking in all audio-visual media. The MOH has taken leadership in several efforts to prevent tobacco use and promote cessation activities, such as: sponsoring anti-tobacco television and radio programs and seminars; conducting public education and anti-tobacco activities utilizing posters, brochures and leaflets; training health professionals on patient counsel- ing regarding tobacco use; establishing cessation centers; and continuing the ‘Quit and Win Campaign’. (The Quit and Win campaign, an international smoking cessation competition to motivate smokers to quit smoking, was first started in Turkey in 1996 and has been carried out by the Substance Dependence Section, Mental Health Department, General Directorate of Primary Health Care, Ministry of Health, Turkey under the auspices of the WHO every second year.) In addition to the tobacco control program efforts, one important feature of the WHO FCTC is the call for countries to establish programs for national, regional, and global surveillance [1]. WHO, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Canadian Public Health Association developed the Global Tobacco Surveillance System (GTSS) to assist WHO member states in establishing continuous periodic tobacco control surveillance and monitoring [4,5]. The GTSS includes collection of data through three surveys: the Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) for youth, and the Global School Personnel Survey and the Global Health Professionals Survey for adults [4]. The purpose of this paper is to present some data from 13- to 15-year-old students who completed the GYTS conducted in Turkey in 2003 [6,7] and to scrutinize the findings of the GYTS that can be used to monitor provision of the tobacco control laws in Turkey, as well as the articles in the WHO FCTC. Methods The Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) The GYTS uses a standardized methodology for construct- ing sampling frames, selecting schools and classes, preparing the questionnaire, carrying out field proce- dures, and processing data. The GYTS questionnaire is self-administered in classrooms, and school, class, and student anonymity is maintained throughout the GYTS process. Country-specific questionnaires consist of a core set of questions that all countries ask, as well as unique country-specific questions. The final country question- naires are translated to local languages, and back- translated to check for accuracy. GYTS country research coordinators conduct focus group discussions with students aged 13 to 15 years to further test the accuracy of the translation and students’ understanding of the questions. The GYTS enquired about several important tobacco-use indicators, including: current cigarette smoking (based on a response of “1 or more days” to the question, “During the past 30 days (1 month), on how many days did you smoke cigarettes?”); current use of tobacco products other than cigarettes; ‘susceptibility’ (that is, absence of a firm decision not to smoke) or likely initiation of cigarette smoking in the next year among never smokers (based on a negative response to the question, “Have you ever tried or experimented with cigarette smoking, even one or two puffs?” as well as a response of anything but “definitely no” to the questions, “If one of your best friends offered you a cigarette, would you smoke it?” and “Do you think you will try smoking a cigarette in the next year?”) [8]; exposure to cigarette smoke in public places (based on a response of “1 or more days” to the question, “During the past 7 days, on how many days have people smoked in Page 2 of 7 (page number not for citation puroposes)