Turkey’s politicians spar over masks, bread in coronavirus response
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan insists his government should spearhead the fight against the pandemic and has stymied relief efforts in opposition-held cities, forcing local officials to come up with creative ways to deliver aid.
ISTANBUL — Residents in the working-class district of Fatih, one of the hardest-hit areas in Turkey by the novel coronavirus, found some unexpected debt relief when they stopped at the corner shop to buy groceries.
Vefa Spor, an amateur soccer club, settled outstanding accounts at local shops last month to help its neighbors weather the economic fallout from the virus. The tradition of paying debts for food bought on credit has gained new momentum after Mansur Yavas, the mayor of the capital Ankara, appealed for the gesture, which “won’t hurt anyone’s feelings and can’t be impeded.”
Yavas’ call is one of the workarounds opposition-controlled municipalities have tapped after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government intervened to stop their larger-scale relief efforts for the hundreds of thousands of people in need of assistance as the pandemic wreaks economic havoc.
Mayors have had charitable bank accounts frozen and face criminal probes and accusations of separatism over their response to the pandemic, which had infected more than 125,000 people and killed 3,397 as of May 3 in Turkey.
