How did Turkey get the most coronavirus cases in the Middle East?
Turkey’s official coronavirus infections rose to more than 86,000 with 2,000 deaths on Monday.
By SETH J. FRANTZMANFILE PHOTO: A worker in a protective suit sprays disinfectant at Grand Bazaar, known as the Covered Bazaar, to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Istanbul, Turkey, March 25, 2020(photo credit: REUTERS/UMIT BEKTAS/FILE PHOTO)
Turkey’s official coronavirus infections rose to more than 86,000 with 2,000 deaths on Monday, making it among the worst-affected countries in the region. Iran, which hid its number of cases in February, now has 82,000 and more than 5,000 deaths.Because much of the Middle East is dominated by authoritarian regimes or countries in the midst of conflict, the official counts for the virus in most places are either unclear or likely higher than governments admit.Turkey’s media, which is almost entirely pro-government with many dissident journalists in prison, has sought to praise the leadership’s handling of the pandemic. In early March, Daily Sabah claimed the country was coronavirus-free and a model to the world in fighting it. Then Turkey pivoted to sending aid abroad to a dozen countries, even as it continued to stoke crises with its neighbors, carrying out airstrikes in Iraq, pushing refugees to enter Greece and fueling extremists in northern Syria. The coronavirus crisis has momentarily taken Turkey’s government eyes off of Syria, where it fought a brief conflict with the Syrian regime in late February.Why Turkey has become a hotspot of the virus is not entirely clear. It sought to cut off travel to Iran in February when it realized there was a major outbreak there. It also sought to bring Turkish citizens back from Europe, where the pandemic was growing.Turkey likely was most impacted because it is a major transit for international travel and a tourism destination. In neighboring Iraq and Syria, there are officially very few cases.Syria is divided between regime-controlled areas, Turkish-occupied northern Syria and the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces in eastern Syria. As a result, it is difficult to carry out virus testing in Syria, even if the regime wanted to. However, the World Health Organization and international organizations have done almost nothing to make up for the testing gaps in Syria.This means we don’t know if some of the Turkish cases may have come from Syria. Turkey and its extremist militia allies in northern Syria have sealed the border and even cut off water to parts of eastern Syria, which may have stalled the spread of the virus in some areas or contained it to various provinces.Meanwhile, Turkey’s government has used a complex method of curfews and age restrictions, rather than a total lockdown, to try to slow the spread of the virus. This has not been successful yet, but Ankara believes its policies are working slowly.In addition, it can point to a relatively low number of deaths, compared with Europe, as a success story. Turkey and Germany have a similar population, and Germany has more than twice the number of deaths than Turkey and twice the number of cases. Yet Germany is hailed as a success story against the virus.The pandemic is one of the only setbacks for Turkey’s regime after a series of successes. Turkey has increasingly taken over parts of eastern Syria, forced the US to withdraw from other parts of Syria and sent forces to Iraq, Qatar and Libya to push its foreign military policies. It is buying S-400 air-defense systems from Russia while playing a leading role in NATO. Ankara has successfully jailed opposition leaders, journalists and dissidents, meaning there is little critique at home for the ruling party, which has been in power for most of the last two decades.
