CURRENT RESTRICTIONS WITHIN TURKEY
Local Restrictions
30 Mar 2020 - Beaches and other park areas closed to picnics and similar gatherings as well as to joggers. Intercity travel by bus was also banned except in cases of emergency. Travelers by bus are now required to receive permits from their governorate. The government also ordered governorates to set up “pandemic boards”
which will impose additional measures specific to the relevant city to contain the outbreak if needed. At least 12 towns were placed under quarantine. In all cities, police began checking body temperatures of occupants of vehicles arriving to or leaving the city. (source: Daily Sabah https://bit.ly/3dH5tqo)
25 Mar 2020 - Turkey’s Interior Ministry announced new rules
for grocery stores and public transportation to slow the spread of
Coronavirus. These include limiting supermarkets’ operating hours
to between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. and customers to one person per 10 square meters
of floor space. Buses within towns and between cities are only allowed to sell
tickets at half capacity under the decree. (source: Al-Monitor https://bit.ly/3avqqCN)
17 Mar 2020 - Restaurants, cafes, movie theaters, wedding and event venues, and
indoors children’s play areas added to the list of closures due to COVID-19. (source: Anadolu Agency https://bit.ly/2UcmpfF)
16 Mar 2020 - Bars, discotheques and nightclubs across all 81
provinces of Turkey closed as of 10 a.m. as
a precaution against the novel coronavirus. (source: Daily Sabah https://bit.ly/2IT5CsA)
12 Mar 2020 - Starting Mar 16, elementary and secondary schools in Turkey will go on
an early spring break, while universities will be closed
for three weeks to prevent the spread of coronavirus (source: Daily Sabah https://bit.ly/2TOpjZ3)
Flight/Travel Restrictions
23 Mar 2020 - Turkey halts flights to 46 more countries over
COVID-19, bringing the total to 68. The flight ban will include: Angola, Austria, Azerbaijan, Algeria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Cameroon, Canada, Chad, Czechia, China, Colombia, Djibouti, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Finland, France, Germany, Guatemala, Georgia, Hungary, India, Italy, Iraq, Iran, Ireland, Ivory Coast, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kosovo, Kuwait, Latvia, Lebanon, Montenegro, Mongolia, Morocco, Moldova, Mauritania, Nepal, Niger, Norway, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Oman, the Philippines, Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal, South Korea, Slovenia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, Taiwan, Tunisia, Uzbekistan, United Arab Emirates, the U.K, Ukraine.
16 Mar 2020 - The health minister Fahrettin Koca said in a news briefing the country would also suspend flights to and from the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Ireland and the United Arab Emirates. The flights will be stopped as of 8 a.m. local time on March 17.
15 Mar 2020 - Turkey suspended all flights to and from: Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Iran, Iraq, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and South Korea. Foreign travelers physically present in these countries in the last 14 days are also barred from entering Turkey. Turkish citizens, including dual citizens, are exempt, but they could be subject to a quarantine requirement.
The Turkish government also closed its land borders with Iran and Iraq, as well as the Dilucu border crossing with Azerbaijan and the Sarp border crossing with Georgia.
Sources: Turkish Ministry of Health (https://hsgm.saglik.gov.tr/tr/bulasici-hastaliklar/2019-n-cov.html), US Embassy Turkey (https://tr.usembassy.gov/covid-19-information/), New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/article/coronavirus-travel-restrictions.html)
For the latest restriction information pertaining to specific countries, contact Turkey’s International Embassy Calling Center:
+90 312 292 2929 (operator will connect callers to requested Embassy information offices)