Turks are preparing to welcome 2022 with small-scaled events and organizations as concerns due to the increasing number of daily COVID-19 cases and fears of the Omicron variant grow.
Families already have begun shopping and filling their bags with nuts, cookies, and the like to prepare themselves for New Year’s Eve and celebrate the night among the company of their near and dear ones.
But for those who want to spend the night out on New Year’s Eve, many restaurants, hotels and entertainment venues prepared special programs in the Turkish metropolises.
Residents of the Aegean province of İzmir will welcome the new year with four public concerts in four different districts of the city, organized in coordination with municipalities.
DJ Suat Ateşdağlı in Cumhuriyet Square, Madrigal in Buca, Gripin in Bornova and Feridun Düzağaç in Karabağlar district will entertain the locals.
An official celebration in Istanbul is not in the plans, but the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality has announced that public transportation will serve for 24 hours and will be free of charge.
The city’s public bus authority will also organize 186 rounds on 15 separate lines on New Year’s Eve along with normal night lines.
Meanwhile, Turkey’s Interior Ministry has sent a circular to the governor’s offices of all 81 provinces in the country, laying out the security measures for the long-awaited night.
More than 340,000 personnel consisting of the police, gendarmerie and coast guard officers will be assigned with the support of air and sea vehicles and detector dogs within the scope of New Year’s measures.
In order to ensure that citizens return to their homes in safe, alcohol checks and security controls by traffic wardens will be made especially after midnight.
