ANKARA: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan got here underneath criticism Wednesday for holding his social gathering’s congress inside a packed sports activities complicated amid a brand new surge of COVID-19 instances.
1000’s of ruling social gathering supporters stuffed the stands of the ten,400-capacity complicated in Ankara — regardless of the Turkish authorities’s social distancing guidelines. Movies posted on social media purported to point out busloads of ruling social gathering supporters touring to the capital to attend the congress, many with out masks. Carrying masks in public areas is necessary in Turkey.
Erdogan spoke for almost two hours on the occasion, presenting his imaginative and prescient for when the nation marks the centenary of the Turkish Republic in 2023, when the nation can be scheduled to carry presidential and parliamentary elections. He stated he reduce remarks brief so as to not expose congress members to the virus.
Murat Emir, a doctor and lawmaker from Turkey’s fundamental opposition social gathering, described the scenes from the social gathering congress as “shameful,” writing on Twitter that the occasion confirmed disregard for “the well being staff who work day and evening within the battle in opposition to the pandemic.”
Former Ankara mayor Melih Gokcek, a member of Erdogan’s Justice and Improvement Get together, maintained that delegates had been examined for the coronavirus earlier than attending the congress.
Erdogan has been criticized for holding equally crowded native social gathering congresses throughout the nation in previous weeks regardless of the pandemic. Throughout one such occasion, he boasted in regards to the measurement of the gang.
Turkey reported near 30,000 new COVID-19 infections on Wednesday, weeks after the federal government eased restrictions in dozens of provinces underneath a so-called “managed normalization” program. The nation additionally reported 146 deaths up to now 24 hours.
On March 1, the federal government divided Turkey’s provinces into 4 danger classes and allowed eating places and cafes to reopen in low, medium and high-risk areas. Weekend lockdowns had been additionally eased in these provinces, though nighttime curfews launched in late November stay in place throughout Turkey.
