28-day ‘total lockdown’ in Turkey in 8 steps

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Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Vice Co-Chair Responsible for Economy Commission and Diyarbakır MP Garo Paylan and HDP MPs Necdet İpekyüz, Habip Eksik and Semra Güzel held a press conference at the Parliament yesterday afternoon (December 16). 

Proposing an action plan against the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the party has recommended a "28-Day Secured Lockdown to Survive." The party has proposed the following eight steps:

• All economic activities, except for vital sectors, should be stopped.
• All intercity and international travel should be stopped for 28 days. On the other side, our citizens should be provided with opportunities of physical activity where they live. This lockdown should not be implemented as a total curfew. It should definitely be ensured that our citizens go out in their localities.
• The necessary healthcare staff should be completed and all resources should be used to take the outbreak under control. So, in this 28-day period, all patients should be diagnosed and all budget resources should be mobilized to take the pandemic under control.
• It should be ensured that people are provided with adequate and quality vaccination without delay. So, this 28-day lockdown is an opportunity to vaccine the risk groups first. In this 28-day period, our citizens should be provided with quality vaccines.
• All citizens who do not have a job or income should be directly granted 5,000 lira (~640 USD) as income support during 28-day lockdown.
• All shop owners, artisans and peddlers whose businesses have been closed should be directly granted 10,000 lira as income support in return for the 28-day lockdown.
• All tax debts and debts to banks should be deferred without interest.
• Electricity, natural gas, water and Internet, up to the limit of need, should be provided free during the secured lockdown period.

'Those who can afford it stay home'

Speaking about the current situation in Turkey amid the COVID-19 outbreak, HDP MP Garo Paylan has indicated that "the partial lockdowns have not adequately affected the course of the pandemic."

Raising concerns that "hundreds of citizens are losing their lives everyday," Paylan has reiterated that the HDP "recommends a 28-day total lockdown where all economic activities, except for essential sectors, are halted by securing all citizens so that the deaths can be stopped."

"The government has been calling on people to stay home for months, but only the ones who have the financial means can comply with these calls," Paylan has indicated further and added, "But our citizens who have to work to live keep on losing their lives."

He has also stressed that "a 28-day lockdown cannot be imposed without economic security as the citizens no longer have the strength to endure the pandemic or the economic insecurity imposed on them." (AS/SD)