The long holidays in Turkey for the celebration of the Feast of the Sacrifice (Kurban Bayramı in Turkish, Eid al-Adha in Arabic) is leaving scenes of kilometre-long traffic jams and long delays at the exit of major cities such as Istanbul, while at airports there are long queues at passport and baggage control due to the massive influx of passengers.
Since Thursday, major traffic jams began to be seen on the main roads out of Istanbul, which have increased today as those leaving the city to spend the holidays in the company of relatives in their home provinces take to the roads, adding to the traffic jams that are common at rush hour in the Turkish metropolis. According to Turkish dailies such as Sabah, major traffic jams have been building up on the TEM and D-100 motorways heading towards Ankara – one of Turkey’s busiest routes – since early morning.
Police department sources said that traffic surveillance and control measures have been stepped up to ensure that the millions of journeys that will be made over the coming days are carried out in the safest way possible for drivers, who are asked by the authorities to wear their seat belts, keep a safe distance from other vehicles and moderate their speed, among other precautions.
But in addition to the main roads and motorways, there are also difficult times at major airports. At Istanbul Airport and Sabiha Gökçen Airport – on the Asian side of the city – more than 2,300 flights are scheduled for today alone, as thousands of passengers try to catch a flight to their home provinces or to holiday resorts in the Aegean or the Mediterranean, taking advantage of the long holidays. While the official holiday for the Feast of the Sacrifice begins tomorrow until 19 June, the Turkish president has also decreed that 20 and 21 June is a public holiday for civil servants, thus creating a nine-day long holiday.
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Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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