Erdoğan on New Year’s celebrations: Parties won’t be tolerated

* Photo: Anadolu Agency (AA)

Click to read the article in Turkish

President and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan addressed the reporters after the Friday prayers in a mosque in İstanbul today (December 25).

With the doses of Sinovac company's vaccine due in Turkey after December 27, Erdoğan has urged the public to join him in showing willingness to get vaccinated for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

"I have already announced that I will be vaccinated, Erdoğan has said and added, "I urged the public to also show sensitivity on this issue."

Minister of Health Fahrettin Koca earlier announced that the first shipments of China-made coronavirus vaccines are set to be shipped on Sunday, with millions of doses due in the early months of 2021.

President and AKP Chair Erdoğan has also underlined that "holding New Year's parties in hotels or villas will not be tolerated due to the pandemic and that authorities will enforce the law on this matter."

He has further indicated that security forces might conduct "operations against the parties in hotels or villas, if necessary."

CLICK - New year's curfew in Turkey: Celebrations in hotels not allowed

As of yesterday (December 24), Turkey registered a total of 19,115 deaths from COVID-19, while over 1.93 million people have recovered. There have been over 2.1 million confirmed cases in the country.

New Year's restrictions in Turkey

Sending a circular letter to the governor's offices to restrict New Year's programs of hotels and accommodation facilities amid the COVID-19 outbreak, the Ministry of Interior announced on December 21 that celebrations would not be allowed in hotels and accommodation facilities during the New Year's curfew.

Published on the official website of the Ministry as well, the circular has noted that music and other performances will also not be allowed in hotels and accommodation facilities after 10 p.m. on days of the curfew.

As reported by the state-run AA, the necessary measures will be taken to ensure that customers staying at hotels and accommodation facilities do not come together in crowds. "A particular attention will be paid to this issue especially at meal times," the circular has underlined.

While the law enforcement officers will be inspecting whether these restrictions are observed or not during the curfew, an administrative action will be taken as per the relevant articles of the Law on Public Health and Law for Encouragement of Tourism in the event of a violation and a legal action will be taken as per the Article 195 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK), if the related action of a person is considered to constitute a crime.

4-day curfew over New Year's

President and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also addressed the reporters following the Cabinet meeting in the capital city of Ankara on December 14.

Erdoğan announced that as a measure to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), Turkey would have a countrywide curfew spanning the New Year's holiday, from December 31 to early January 4.

In addition to ongoing public health measures, the holiday lockdown would last from 9 p.m. on December 31 to 5 a.m. on January 4, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told reporters after a Cabinet meeting in the capital Ankara.

(DŞ/SD)