Turkey Gets 2-Week Partial Closure Decision

Turkey gets a 2-week partial closure decision. Stricter cautionary decisions came out of the cabinet meeting.

In his statement after the Cabinet meeting, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated that partial closure measures will be implemented during the first two weeks of Ramadan. Within the framework of the new measures taken, while the hours of the curfew were put earlier, new measures were announced in many areas such as education.

Important headlines of President Erdogan's statement after the Cabinet were as follows:

We have attended some international meetings since the last Cabinet meeting. Last week, we spoke with EU leaders Michel and von der Leyen on the issues on the agenda. We hope the meeting will be a turning point for our relations. Turkey has always been sincere in EU relations. We prevented Europe from being immigrated. We are still committed to the goal of a full EU membership. Our only request from the EU is to be subjected to the same process as the countries whose membership has been accepted. We make every effort to strengthen D-8, and we will continue to do so. Last Friday, we had a productive phone call with Putin where we discussed many issues, from tourism to the Ukraine issue. I think this effective diplomatic cooperation sets a good example. We agreed to sign a free trade agreement with Ukraine. Yesterday, we hosted the Prime Minister of the Libyan National Unity Government in Ankara. Libya is not just another country for us. We care about the peaceful life of Libya as much as our own survival. We stated that we would support the Government of National Unity to prevail in the entire country.

Tourism Sector Awaits Normalization

We closely follow the calendars related to legal and economic reforms and implement them step by step. Things are going well on the production side in the economy. Our factories work day and night to grow goods. Additional employment is made to keep up with the demands. We are taking steps resolutely to ensure that Turkey does not overcome financial fluctuations that never reflect the real economic situation. We support all segments affected by epidemic measures. We closely follow the troubles experienced inside. We support our tradesmen under many headings. Social shield support has exceeded 60 billion lira. The tourism industry expects conditions to return to normal. Thanks to employment incentives, we prevented irreversible destructions in this area. We allocated a 24 billion lira support budget to our farmers this year. We started to deliver some of the products of onion and potato producers, whose products remain in the warehouses, to families in need by purchasing them through TMO. The purchasing and distribution business will continue in the coming days. Likewise, we solve the problems of paddy producers. In all organized industry and industrial zones, we contacted employers closely and instructed the Minister of Industry and Technology to provide employment for our young people before they graduate from university. We are increasing the support to youth. We increasingly continue to support women who become active in business life.

Curfew Hours Updated

Turkey is among the most successful countries in the world as well as successfully managing the health dimension of the epidemic. We are in the first places in the world with our total number of 19 million in vaccination. We are pushing all doors to rapidly increase this figure. However, in cases where the number of cases and deaths increase, we have to tighten the measures. Recently, increasing cases and deaths in metropolitan cities have led to tightening the measures. In the first two weeks of the month of Ramadan, we are starting to apply partial closure by tightening the measures. If we cannot achieve the improvement at the rate we target in the two-week period, it will be inevitable that much harsher applications will come in the future. While the curfew continued on the weekend, the hours of the curfew on weekdays were updated as 7 pm in the evening and 5 am. Intercity travels will not be allowed during curfews, except in compulsory cases. We are re-introducing the restriction of using public transportation for those over the age of 65 and under 18, which we took a break a while ago. Alternating and flexible work will be re-widespread in the public sector, ending at 4 pm. Pregnant women, those with chronic diseases, and female personnel with children under 10 years of age will be considered on administrative leave. Private sector companies with suitable conditions will also be encouraged in this direction. All levels, except for 8th and 12th grades and pre-school education institutions, which are in the examination process in education, will continue their activities with remote education. Cafes, tea gardens, sports halls and similar places that provide food and beverage services will pause their activities until after the holidays. Restaurants and similar establishments will carry out their work with package delivery and take-away services only at specified times during Ramadan. All meetings such as weddings, engagements, weddings, etc. and all activities in indoor areas will not be held until after the holiday. Hotels will only be able to serve as limited to their own customers, and fraudulent reservations and similar tricks will not be tolerated. Mass iftar and similar organizations cannot be held in accommodation facilities and homes. Other details on the subject will be announced with the circular to be published tonight by the Ministry of Interior. The application will start as of tomorrow evening.