Turkey to suspend all scientific and culture events in latest coronavirus measure

Al-Monitor Staff

Mar 20, 2020

A worshipper waits in front of the locked Fatih Mosque for the Friday prayers as Turkey suspended mass prayers in mosques nationwide until the risk of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) passes in Istanbul,Turkey March 20, 2020. REUTERS/Umit Bektas - RC2PNF9ARP7Q — A worshipper waits in front of the locked Fatih Mosque for the Friday prayers as Turkey suspended mass prayers in mosques nationwide until the risk of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) passes in Istanbul,Turkey March 20, 2020. — REUTERS/Umit Bektas

Amid a surge in confirmed coronavirus infections, Turkey is postponing all events related to science, culture and the arts, its president announced Friday.

“It is deemed appropriate to postpone any scientific, cultural, artistic and similar meetings or activities to be held in open or closed areas at national and international level until the end of April,” read the decree from President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Turkey’s Official Gazette, according to the Hürriyet newspaper.