Turkey has rolled out a nationwide scheme to stop and weigh people in public, with inspectors then telling them to slim down if they are found to be overweight.
Health workers have been deployed across each of the country's 81 regions with weighing scales and tape measures as the drive to assess 10 million people by July 10 is underway.
Passersby are stopped by medical examiners for spot body mass index (BMI) checks while walking through town squares, shopping centres and parks, and even as they prepare to board buses or head to football matches, according to reports.
Speaking at a nursing conference last week, Turkey's Minister of Health Kemal Memişoğlu declared that '50 percent of our society is overweight.'
He pointed to the various health risks associated with being overweight, telling the meeting: 'Being overweight means being sick, it means we will get sick in the future.
