Turkey to lift countrywide coronavirus curfew

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President and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan addressed the public following the Cabinet meeting in the capital city of Ankara yesterday evening (June 21).

Amid the recent vaccination efforts against the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) and the relative drop in the numbers of deaths and cases, there was an expectation that the pandemic measures would be eased.

Referring to the easing of measures within this context, Erdoğan has announced that the countrywide curfews will be lifted as of July 1, 2021.

Turkey is set to end pandemic curfews as of next Thursday, on July 1, Erdoğan has said, adding that on the same day, Turkey will also lift intercity travel restrictions and restrictions on urban public transport,

"Thanks to the drop in virus cases, Turkey will return to normal working order in public institutions and organizations as of July 1," he told reporters.

Erdoğan also stressed how "vital" it is for everyone to get COVID-19 jabs when their turn comes in the country's vaccination drive. Urging the public to pay no heed to "manipulations," he said that they should instead listen to scientists and doctors about the need for vaccination."Our goal is to make everybody over age 18 eligible for vaccination within a few weeks," he said.

"As of today, the number of vaccine doses that we administered approached 43 million," he said, expressing his wish to ensure that Turkey is one of the first countries to overcome the pandemic with the least harm.

"Although the problems in the world will continue for a while due to new variants of the virus, Turkey will successfully leave this process behind," President and AKP Chair Erdoğan said, urging the public to continue to follow hygiene, mask, and social distancing rules. (KÖ/SD)