Turkish tourism workers urge minister to resign after humiliating campaign

Turkish tourism workers have urged Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy to resign following a campaign that prompted outrage from thousands. The ministry previously released a promotional video for the tourism season, in which employees were seen wearing masks with "Enjoy, I'm vaccinated" written on them.

Sunday May 16 2021 01:50 pm

Duvar English

Turkish tourism workers have urged Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy to resign over a campaign that drew fury on social media.

The ministry on May 13 shared a publicity video for the upcoming tourism season, in which it wanted to assure the tourists that Turkey is safe in terms of COVID-19.

"Enjoy, I'm vaccinated," was printed on the masks put on tourism workers in the video shared by the ministry, which was deleted a short while later upon backlash.

Turkish ministry's 'vaccinated tourism staff' video draws fury from Turks #Turkey #IAmVaccinated https://t.co/9rtZQjchyu pic.twitter.com/pnBcRZ3Vuh
— Duvar English (@DuvarEnglish) May 14, 2021

Tourism workers slammed the video, saying that they are not stamped slaves and that they hold onto their honor.

"You ruined last year's season. You couldn't attract tourists to the country even with all sorts of lies," Tourism Workers Solidarity said in a written statement on May 15.

"Seeing that what you did last year didn't work, you went as far as to play with our honor. We won't allow it," it added.

Tourism is an important source of revenue for Turkey, but the soaring number of coronavirus cases damaged the sector. The country currently seeks to revive it by convincing foreigners that the pandemic is under control.

In their written statement, the workers slammed the government for not giving financial aid to them and said, "We won't allow you to force us and our children to hunger."

"You will pay for the damage you've done!" the statement added.