EU keeps travel restrictions on Turkey
Photo: AA/File
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The European Union (EU) will keep non-essential travel restrictions on Turkey due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to its updated list.
Restrictions on eight countries, including Israel, Japan and Australia, will be gradually lifted, the EU announced yesterday (June 3).
Restrictions on Turkey, the US and the UK will be kept in place. The EU recommendations for restrictions are not binding.
Turkey imposed lockdown restrictions between mid-April and June 3 to reduce the number of new coronavirus cases ahead of the tourism season.
While the number of daily cases was about 60,000 when the lockdown started, it's now around six to seven thousand, according to the official figures.
Ankara, with some controversial moves, tried to convince foreign countries that Turkey would be safe to visit during the summer.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu was heavily criticized after saying Turkey would vaccinate "anyone that a tourist can see" at a joint press conference with his counterpart from Germany, Heiko Maas, during his visit to Berlin on May 6.
A week later, the Ministry of Tourism and Culture also came under fire after releasing a promotional video in English on social media, where tourism workers were wearing masks that read, "Enjoy, I'm vaccinated."
CLICK - 'Enjoy, I'm vaccinated': Ministry video for tourists causes outrage on social media
The video caused a backlash among social media users and opposition politicians, who accused the government of humiliating the citizens. They also pointed out the country's vaccine shortage and the slowdown in the delivery of vaccines from China.
The ministry had to delete the video within hours.
The eagerness of the government to attract tourists to Turkey is attributed to the foreign exchange shortage the country has had for months.
Russia, one of the main sources of Turkey's tourism income, also extended a flight ban to Turkey until June 23. More than two million people from Russia traveled to Turkey last year despite the pandemic. (KÖ/VK)