Bakeries in Istanbul's six districts to require proof of vaccination from customers

Duvar English

People who have not yet received their COVID-19 jabs will not be accepted into bakeries in Istanbul's six districts, as per a decision taken by a representative of the Istanbul Bakery Chamber. 

“When the case numbers started to increase, we have been forced to take a decision. And as the bakeries, we have tried to do what falls on us as responsibility. Therefore, we will check if citizens who come to the bakeries are vaccinated or not. We will not sell bread to those without vaccinations. We have for now taken this decision in six districts,” Istanbul Chamber of Bakeries' Esenler representative Mustafa Çiçek said on Aug. 2.

The new measure will be applied in Bakırköy, Güngören, Bağcılar, Bahçelievler, Bayrampaşa and Esenler districts.

Çiçek expressed his wish that this new measure be extended to cover all bakeries in Istanbul, and even in Turkey. “Because Turkey does not have the power to go through a lock down process again...We will start this implementation as of next week,” he said.

Halil İbrahim Balcı, the head of the Turkish Bakers Federation (TFF), on the other hand, opposed the announcement, saying such a measure is not valid.

“We do not want to even talk about how unresponsible it is of those making statements such as 'We will not let unvaccinated into our bakeries, we will not give them bread'...For now, there is no such measure as 'Bread will not be given to those who are unvaccinated,'” Balcı said in his written statement.

The statement came a week after the country's restaurant and music industry representatives called on the government to make vaccination certificates mandatory for customers coming into their establishments. 

They noted that several businesses suffered greatly during the COVID-19 pandemic and that vaccinations should no longer be a personal choice but instead a public responsibility.