Turkey’s small businesses fear for survival during harsh lockdown

Many Istanbul shops already choosing to ignore a nightly curfew in a bid to tackle mounting debts.

Istanbul, Turkey – Small business owners say they may be forced to break the country’s strict lockdown restrictions, which prohibit the sale of alcohol and the opening of “non-essential” shops, as they cannot afford to lose more than two weeks of business. Ankara is hoping to stifle the spread of COVID with a 17-day lockdown – the strictest to date – that started last Thursday, ahead of the country’s vital tourist season. The announcement of the snap restrictions came soon after Russia – which accounted for seven million tourists in 2019 – banned flights to Turkey because of a surge in infections in recent weeks.