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2.0 Politics
2.1 Corona on the rise and threatening Turkey’s health
system this time
The Ankara Chamber of Doctors, Turkey’s second largest with 13,000 members, said on August 4 that almost 1,000 people are contracting the coronavirus (COVID-19) every day in the Turkish capital—if correct, the claim exposes Turkey’s official virus figures as severely inaccurate.
The government-approved data state that the daily nationwide tally of new cases is running at around that level.
If severe doubt spreads about Turkey’s recovery from its coronavirus outbreak, it would be another huge blow to the country’s tourism industry. It suffered abysmal revenues in June and July and has been hoping for a good August as countries lift travel warnings on journeying to Turkish resorts.
The interior ministry claimed on August 4 that it tightened some COVID-19 rules.
Health Minister Fahrettin Koca on August 6 denied that there were hospitals in Turkey operating at capacity because of the pandemic.
Vestel, one of Europe’s largest producers of home appliances and consumer electronics goods, has dismissed reports in Turkish media suggesting that seven of its workers have died from coronavirus (COVID-19) and 1,000 have contracted the virus at its plant in Turkey’s western Manisa province.
The Turkish Thoracic Society warned that it is concerned that Turkey is losing control of its COVID-19 outbreak.
Tabloid newspapers in western Europe have started to caution readers that if they book a bargain late summer holiday in a Turkish resort they may find themselves quarantined once they return home.
Turkish armoured vehicle maker BMC has ceased operations at its plant in Izmir on Turkey’s Aegean coast after an outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19) among workers, local daily Evrensel reported on August 25.
Turkey’s official number of new coronavirus cases per 24-hour cycle—much doubted by independent observers—on August 25 rose to its highest level since mid-June at 1,502. The government responded by banning some celebration events in 14 provinces.
“There have been more than 1,000 daily diagnoses in [the city of] Ankara, alone,” Osman Elbek, a member of the Turkish Medical Association’s (TBB’s) medical body, told Public Radio International. “We say these contradicting numbers must be explained. But no explanation has been given to us.”
2.2 Lira again...
The Turkish lira (TRY) was back under pressure on August 5, sliding beyond the ‘red-line’ seven-to-the-dollar rate as analysts said Turkey’s money markets were starting to malfunction and market players again pondered whether the country can avoid another balance of payments crisis.
6 TURKEY Country Report September 2020 www.intellinews.com
