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The hustle and bustle of Istanbul, the city with 16 million people, has come to almost a standstill during this second lockdown. Virus numbers have been rising and many choose to stay in the safety of their own homes. This leaves streets that were once lively and packed to almost something of a ghost town.

As a new resident to Istanbul myself, having only been here for three months, it is quite a stark difference. Being in a country where rules are put in place and enforced is actually refreshing as an American. Instead of people protesting about wearing a mask, people just wear a mask. When there is a curfew put in place by the president, people follow it.

So before jumping too far into the details of this current lockdown, which started 1 December 2020, let’s go back to what was normal when I first arrived in September.

September & October

In the months of September and October, Istanbul was fairly open. Everyone was required to wear a mask when in public. Restaurants, cafes, and bars were all open for service, either inside or outside.

Tourism was free to operate to almost normal standards. Turkey was open to most countries without a COVID test prior to entry. There were, of course, limits as to how many people could join on a tour. Guides were not allowed to go into palaces to minimize talking.

Schools were still online for a few weeks with a gradual reopening. Kindergarten was the first to come back face-to-face on 21 September. This was the first time that the students had been back to school since February/March. Primary grades 1, 2, 3, and 4 were allowed to come back 2 times per week for face-to-face and 3 days per week online as a hybrid model. Grade 5 was still entirely online.

November

Things started to change little bit in the beginning of November.

A daily 10 pm closure of all restaurants, cafes, bars, and shops was put into place. However, there was no scheduled curfew for everyone to be home by a certain time.

There was a mad rush out of busy places, such as Kadikoy, when it started getting close to 10 pm. Everyone would start swarming the buses, and taxis were a free-for-all. I had 2 taxi’s that I tried to hail and they were both stolen from me.

Meanwhile, the number of cases were starting to increase and those working within the healthcare industry wanted stricter rules.

So in the middle of November, the president started a partial lockdown. This called for all restaurants, bars, and cafes to close dining rooms and offer only take away and delivery. A nightly weekend curfew was introduced starting at 8 pm to 10 am Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Smoking cigarettes was also prohibited in public.

As for schools, grade 5 was allowed to come to school for the first time during this school year, but only for the first 2 weeks in November to complete their testing. After that, all grades, with the exception of kindergarten, went back to online learning.

December

After only two weeks of a soft lockdown, the president declared the following:

COVID 19 PROHIBITIONS TO BE VALID AS TUESDAY, 01 DECEMBER 2020 2020

• Every weekday, a curfew will be restricted between 21:00 at night and 05:00 in the morning. This restriction will continue uninterruptedly from 21:00 on Friday evening to 05:00 on Monday morning on weekends.
• Sectors to be included in the circular such as production, supply, logistics, health, agriculture, and forest are excluded from this scope.
• Over 65 and under 20 cannot use public transportation.
• Markets, grocery stores, butchers, greengrocers, and places that provide home takeaway services are excluded from the weekend restrictions at specified times.
• Restaurants will not be able to serve except for takeaway.
• The activities of nursery classes and similar educational institutions will be suspended.
• Specifically, request to not accept guests until the threat passes. Activities such as day, holiday, condolence, and New Year celebrations will not be held in the houses.
• Funeral prayers will be performed with 30 people, including their relatives. Weddings cannot exceed this number.
• At the entrance to the shopping malls, HES code application will be started.
• The number of people who can enter the crowded streets and squares will be limited by the public sanitation board.

Cases in Turkey have been reaching 20,000 per day. There have been multiple people that I interact with on a daily basis that have gotten sick, but I have not. So with this month looking very grim, we’ll see if these tougher restrictions are able to bring the number of new cases down.