Nevertheless, the government is adamant on enforcing the law and Erdogan has said that new regulations are underway against smoking, such as a total ban on vaping and electronic cigarettes and new regulations regarding hookah or water pipe cafes, which are popular in big cities.

These measures follow newly published data showing that there have been more smokers in Turkey despite government-initiated regulations and campaigns discouraging smoking.

About 83,000 people die from tobacco-caused diseases in Turkey each year, according to the Tobacco Atlas, an initiative supported by the American Cancer Society and the World Lung Foundation.

About 31 percent of deaths among Turkish men can be attributed to tobacco-related diseases. Turkish men's rate of death from smoking is the second highest in the world after North Korea, according to the source.

Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said that despite the bans, tobacco use that had once fallen to 27 percent of the population in Turkey has increased to 31 percent again.

"We will take additional measures and effective steps to enforce the existing ban in closed spaces. These bans have to be very strictly enforced," he said.

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