Coronavirus: Chaotic start to draconian weekend curfew imposed on much of Turkey

All but a few select businesses barred from operating and only certain medical workers among those allowed to leave homes

Pandemonium erupted outside shops throughout Turkey late Friday night after the government announced a strict weekend curfew to halt the spread of coronavirus throughout the country.

Turkey’s interior ministry announced the curfew just two hours before it was due to take effect at midnight, prompting huge crowds, long queues and even violence outside food stores.

Under the terms of the curfew all but select pharmacies, bakeries and petrol stations in 31 of Turkey’s 81 provinces were shuttered and all but medical workers and other specialised professionals heading to their jobs were barred from leaving their homes.

By Saturday, streets and squares throughout much of Turkey were devoid of pedestrians or vehicles. Public transportation was limited to a few hours in the morning and evening, but some medical workers complained of being unable to get to their jobs.

The virus death toll has been steadily increasing in Turkey, which recently surpassed 1,000 after a record daily toll of 98 was announced on Friday.

“We urge all citizens who live in said 31 provinces to comply with this weekend’s lockdown without panicking, and refrain from reducing their social distance prior to the lockdown,” Fahrettin Altun, communications chief for president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, wrote on Twitter.

Mr Erdogan has insisted that the wheels of the economy continue to turn, and his government has kept certain sectors of the economy open for business. These include construction, banking, mining and manufacturing.

News of the curfew came as so much of a surprise that even the mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, took to social media to voice his astonishment. A member of the opposition to Mr Erdogan’s political party, he has long asked for a tighter lockdown on the city, which is one of the country’s most hard-hit areas.

“Curfews to combat the pandemic should not be imposed so hastily,” he wrote on Twitter. The municipality of Istanbul “was not informed of the sudden 48-hour curfew in Istanbul and was left unsure as to what services will be provided tomorrow. Decisions taken unilaterally only serve to create more panic and confusion.”

Residents discarded social distancing guidelines to crowd late-night shops to stock up on groceries and meats. Outside one bakery in the Bayrampasa district of Istanbul, a brawl broke out as young men “pummelled and jumped each other”, according to video footage posted to the internet.

The 48-hour curfew applies to all the country’s major urbanised provinces, including Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Konya, Gaziantep, Antalya, and Diyarbakir as well as the coal-mining district of Zonguldak. Turkish officials insisted that no one would go hungry during the 48-hour lockdown, and distributed photos showing police handing loaves of bread to residents under curfew.

It remains unclear what prompted Turkey’s weekend lockdown. Health minister Fahrettin Koca insisted Friday that the number of patients in need of treatment at intensive care units in hospitals was slowing but “it should not relieve us”.

Mr Erdogan on Friday spoke on the phone with Serbian president Aleksandar Vucic, who earlier imposed a strict weekend curfew throughout the eastern Balkan country.

Turkey has introduced a number of measures to fight against the pandemic. Last week it banned the sale of surgical masks and launched an ambitious programme to distribute them for free to citizens. It has also sought to aid other countries facing the pandemic, recently dispatching planeloads of surgical masks and hazmat suits to the UK, with a quote from the medieval Sufi poet Rumi on the boxes.

“After hopelessness, there is so much hope,” it said. “And after darkness, there is the much brighter sun.”