Right from the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the authorities in charge of the most populated city in Turkey, Istanbul, have offered the aid of 300 lira each for 3600 families, while giving an amount of 600 lira each to 6400 families. This has been done to help the families offset the adverse financial impact of this crisis. The amount was raised through donations received in a city, run by the opponents of Turkey's ruling party, Justice and Development Party, AKP.
Twist In The Tale
Now, there is a twist in this crucial world politics news. The campaign that was mainly conducted to help the needy only managed to last for a day and a half. The IBB or Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality told media that, this has happened because the Government of Turkey had banned municipalities from gathering amounts from donations and distributing provisions. There is more to the story. The IBB further stated that they were not able to make use of 2.7 million Turkish Lira as the Government had already their bank accounts.
All those who criticize AKP and their leader, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan believe that they are simply exploiting the sensitive situation of COVID-2019 pandemic to take revenge for the loss which the party had encountered in most of the major cities in Turkey to their opposition during the local elections last year.
Criticism
According to the critics, Erdogan is quite determined not to allow someone like the mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, from enjoying additional gains. Sezin Oney, a political scientist, also believes that usually the local leaders, where the COVID-2019 pandemic is centered, come to the forefront in each country. He further emphasized the point by saying that everyone will be hooked on to see the likes of New York in the United States, Bergamo in Italy, and Istanbul in Turkey taking control of the situation and leading the way for others to follow.
Mayor of Istanbul Has Threatened Erdogan’s Rule
As per the official figures are concerned, till 21st April, the confirmed cases in Turkey were more than 95000. Thus, it managed to surpass the figures of China by quite a margin and thus become 7th in the list of most affected countries in the world. Around 2259 of them have lost their lives. In the present scenario, there is no bigger government news today than how governments of each country are fighting this battle and finding different ways to come out of the problem by preventing the spread of disease as well as by limiting the number of deaths.
Steps Undertaken
Given the current situation, on 20th April, President Erdogan had announced new measures to prevent the spread which include a curfew for four days. Even, a few weeks back, the Interior Ministry had banned all the municipalities from collecting donations for helping out those in need and also went ahead to block the bank accounts from where the payments were made.