In Turkey, Gul is feeling her world getting smaller again

 


Edited BY


G P Kennedy

Gul - A fishing harbor, Turkey


 This week passed by so fast. Nothing has changed when I think about the last 7 days. It is cooler at night; the sun doesn’t burn during the day. Yesterday, it rained for the first time in 4 months. Birds will soon move to warmer places; we see that they are gathering together. It’s also a fishing season, there’s a small fishing harbor near us we hear boats are coming and going. 

 We don’t go to the beach to swim every day. Instead, we try to know local areas. We are now aware that we need to find alternatives to Istanbul. We already have a favorite place! We celebrated Mike’s 30th year in Turkey last night. We went to our usual local fish restaurant, of course, we brought our table cover, napkins, and some cutlery with us. I think this was our last meal out. I am really surprised that some people can eat comfortably in restaurants. 


POLITICS. POLITICS

 Domestic politics, as always, has a completely different agenda. Meanwhile, healthcare workers are dying due to insufficient measures. We learned that during the pandemic Imams were paid more than doctors. Shameful. 


SOCIAL DIVISIONS

 Low-income people and others are experiencing this disease in very different ways. Working-class people are suffering more while white-collar professionals and the wealthy stay at home. People are sent to work despite having been in contact with people infected with the virus. Some people can’t have sick leave as they don’t have COVID-19 test results and getting tested is not easy. Self-isolation is an economic luxury for the working class. In terms of the latest figures (official), while 1700 people have tested positive over 70 have died of COVID -19 in the last 24 hours. 


 The Minister of Health, Fahrettin Koca, said both active cases and the number of seriously ill patients keep on increasing. Many people are not self-isolating so the government is planning to hand prison sentences up to a year to those violating quarantine rules. 


We learned that most sanitizers used in hospitals are fake, and nonstandard masks are on the market. We use a mobile app to find real masks. Scanning the barcode indicates whether the mask is registered or not. Apparently, mask-making companies ship quality masks abroad. They’ll do anything to make more money. They need a good punishment. I think that’s it for this week. 

 

Stay healthy!

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