The coronavirus farce of the weekend award should very likely go to Turkey following the botching of a 48-hour lockdown of cities that resulted in the interior minister offering his resignation.

As it turned out, Suleyman Soylu’s offer to quit was on April 12 rejected by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, but those who endured scenes of coronavirus (COVID-19) chaos in Istanbul and other cities would no doubt like to see someone held to account. People rushed to shops to desperately stock up on supplies and traffic backed up as people made late-night trips to check on loved ones after the authorities, at 22:00 local time on April 10, announced that a curfew in 31 cities would begin in two hours’ time. Pictures and video clips of the scenes caused outrage.

“Dear President’s instruction”

Soylu took responsibility for the chaotic outcome of the announced weekend lockdown, but on April 12 bianet reported that in sharing the details of the curfew decision on a live TV programme, he said that “It was within the frame of our Dear President’s instruction.” Later on, Soylu told Hurriyet daily that “in terms of timing, the decision belongs to our [interior] ministry.

There was speculation that Erdogan got the idea for the lockdown from an April 10 phone conversation he had with Serbian President Aleksandr Vucic in which the two leaders discussed efforts being made to combat the pandemic.

Erdogan has been under pressure to bring in a general lockdown across Turkey to get a grip on the country’s growing coronavirus outbreak, but the Turkish economy is in a fragile state and would find such a move difficult to endure. On March 30, Erdogan remarked: “Our most important sensitivity here is to continue production to sustain the supply of basic goods and support exports. Turkey is a country that needs to continue production and keep the wheels turning under all conditions and circumstances.”

“Sacrifice of self-isolating … wasted”

The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) said the way the lockdown was announced actually undermined efforts to contain the outbreak. “A decision that needs to be taken for public health became a threat to public health due to lack of planning,” CHP spokesman Faik Oztrak said. “The sacrifice of people self-isolating for days has been wasted.”

CHP mayor of Istanbul Ekrem Imamoglu complained that municipal authorities had no advance warning of the lockdown announcement. “Decisions taken without common sense and cooperation will only cause confusion and panic,” he said.

The weekend lockdown came on top of existing curbs under which people under the age of 20 and over 65 have been told to stay at home.

The COVID-19 outbreak in Turkey by late on April 13 had officially claimed the lives of 1,296 people, with 61,049 infections. However, there are analysts who doubt the figures come close to representing the actual extent of the pandemic in the country. One Harvard academic has even claimed that the virus situation is “out of control” in the nation of 83mn.
Political resignations are rare in Turkey. The last time a minister from the ruling Justice and Development (AKP) party stepped down was in 2013.

“The incidents that occurred ahead of the implementation of the curfew were not befitting the perfect management of the outbreak,” Soylu said in a statement on Twitter in which he said he was quitting his post.

He also said: “I acted in good faith ... to prevent the epidemic spreading. The scenes that occurred before the lockdown began, even for a short time, are my responsibility. My actions should not have caused this.”

The presidency responded that it was not “appropriate” for Soylu to resign and that he should continue as interior minister.