Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan rejected on Sunday the resignation of Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu, who said he was quitting over the implementation of a two-day curfew in major Turkish cities to tackle the coronavirus outbreak.
Turkey announced the weekend lockdown late on Friday, but in the brief time before it went into effect many people rushed out to buy food and drink in the country's commercial hub Istanbul, a city of 16 million people, and other cities.
"Although in a limited period of time, the incidents that occurred ahead of the implementation of the curfew was not befitting with the perfect management of the outbreak process," Soylu said in his statement.
The lockdown decision was taken with good intention and aimed at slowing the spread of coronavirus, he said. The lockdown will end at 2100 GMT on Sunday.
Erdogan, however, judged it was not “appropriate” for Soylu to resign and the minister would continue in his position, the presidency said shortly afterwards.
The opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) said the way the lockdown was announced had undermined efforts to contain the coronavirus outbreak in Turkey, which has registered 50,000 cases.
“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.”
More than 1,100 people have died of COVID-19 in Turkey, many of them in Istanbul where CHP mayor Ekrem Imamoglu said municipal authorities had no advance warning of the move. “Decisions taken without common sense and cooperation will only cause confusion and panic,” he said.
Turkey's confirmed cases of coronavirus increased by 4,789 in the past 24 hours, and 97 people more have died, taking the death toll to 1,198, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Sunday.
The total number of recovered cases stood at 3,446, and the number of tests carried out over the last 24 hours was 35,720, the minister said.
Turkey's total confirmed cases stood at 56,956, the ministry said.
Transport Minister Mehmet Cahit Turhan was removed two weeks ago after the ministry drew criticism for holding a tender amid the outbreak to prepare to build a huge canal on the edge of Istanbul.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
