There is considerable literature on the effect of particle size and shape.
Smoking is definitely a very important confounding factor.
However, I believe it is incorrect to state that the value of the epidemiological studies in Turkey was cancelled through the confounding effect of smoking. Certainly erionite was not the only variable in Turkey, but further research, at least some of it well done, has shown that, indeed, erionite appears to be more carcinogenic than the typical asbestos minerals, including crocidolite and chrysotile. One of the important outcomes of the work in Turkey is that it pointed the finger at a previously unknown carcinogenic mineral.