Opposition blames Erdoğan as Turkey turns out to be one of the hardest-hit countries by Covid-19

Photos: AA

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Opposition leaders have blamed President and Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for the worsening pandemic in the country.

After the Ministry of Health started announcing the total number of new cases rather than excluding asymptomatic ones on November 25, it is seen that Turkey is one of the hardest-hit countries in the world with its daily cases being exceeded by the US, India and Brazil, three countries with much higher populations than Turkey.

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The ministry's disclosure of data came after pressure by medical organizations and opposition parties, which have disputed the accuracy of the official figures since the start of the outbreak.

The ministry has been announcing about 30,000 new cases since November 25 while the daily death toll is still disputed as the opposition-led İstanbul municipality death count for the city often surpasses the ministry's toll for the entire country.

Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the chair of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), told his party's group that "I would understand if you didn't disclose any figures, but there is nothing that harms Turkey's reputation in the world as announcing false numbers."

He also criticized the president for the restrictions announced by him yesterday (November 30), pointing out that 383,000 workplaces will be shut down and are offered no financial support.

About 2.1 million people will be affected by the new measures, said Kılıçdaroğlu, asking how those people will make ends meet.

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The measures announced by Erdoğan to slow down the outbreak include weeknight and weekend curfews and restrictions on cafes, restaurants, grocery stores and other workplaces.

İYİ (Good) Party Chair Meral Akşener, an ally of the CHP, also blamed Erdoğan for the situation of the pandemic, saying that "Since you have established a one-man regime, you are the only one who is responsible."

"They thought that they deceive everyone by concealing the number of cases and announcing only the number of patients. That didn't happen. They only deceived themselves," she told her party's group.

"Even when our citizens' lives were in question, you thought that you could evade responsibility with political communication, perception management and propaganda," Akşener remarked. (VK)