A hastily imposed weekend exit ban causes unrest in many cities in Turkey. Citizens learn details only sparingly and late. That is why many people still push into supermarkets and bakeries in the evening.
The Turkish government has imposed an exit ban in 31 cities this weekend due to the Corona crisis. That also included the country’s largest city, the metropolis of Istanbul, as provincial governor Ali Yerlikaya confirmed late Friday evening. According to a tweet from the Ministry of Interior, the capital city of Ankara and the major cities of Izmir and Antalya are also affected. The ban applies from midnight and until midnight on Monday night, it said.
Details of the regulation were initially unclear – and because the measure was announced just two hours before midnight (local time), panic purchases immediately began in Istanbul. In supermarkets, in front of bakeries and the typical small neighborhood shops, long and often tight queues of buyers formed immediately.
Details came little by little
The opposition mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, criticized the short-term and sparingly communicated measure. The city administration was not informed. It is not even known what services the city can offer on Saturday. Details about it only trickled in little by little. Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu has called for calm, reports the state news agency Anadolu. There was no reason for panic buying, among other things the bakeries would be open on Saturday, which should then be able to deliver their goods.
According to Anadolu, clinics, pharmacies and institutions and companies that offer certain public services should remain open. People are also likely to attend funerals from first-degree relatives. At first it remained unclear whether walking with the dog was allowed.
Turkey has reported around 47,000 infections so far. The death toll had exceeded 1,000 on Friday. Ban on going out was already in place for people aged 65 and over, chronically ill and under 20 year olds. The government has so far refrained from imposing a country-wide curfew – also in order not to further affect the already troubled economy. However, she had taken many other measures. Among other things, schools and universities, cafes and bars were closed and common prayers in mosques were prohibited.
– .
