Turkey to Impose 4-day Lockdown amid Coronavirus Crisis

As Turkey struggles to contain the spread of coronavirus, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that a four-day lockdown would be imposed on 31 cities beginning Thursday. Ankara has implemented similar measures over the past two weekends. The country’s confirmed number of coronavirus cases has skyrocketed to over 90,000, the most of any Middle Eastern nation. Indeed, Turkey has overtaken Iran as the regional epicenter, prompting accusations that Erdogan’s government did not initially do enough to restrict public movement over fears of the potential effect on an already fragile economy. The president noted that the weekend lockdowns were likely to continue “for some time,” pointing to the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday at the end of May as a target date for the gradual resumption of normal activities.