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March 31, 2020

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Window into delivering essentials to elderly

By Fulya Ozerkan | 00:00 UTC+8 March 31, 2020 | Print Edition

“One kilo of bananas, please,” 83-year-old Yuksel shouts down from her fourth-floor window to the grocer’s shop on the corner of her Istanbul street before lowering her basket on a rope.

Weighing the bananas, the grocer puts them in a bag, loads up the basket taking the money left inside and shouts to his waiting customer, “Pull!”

The age-old practice, still a familiar sight on Istanbul streets, has gained new relevance since Turkish authorities announced on March 22 that they were ordering people aged over 65 to stay at home in the battle against coronavirus.

“Before, we were receiving maybe 10 orders a day and this number has reached 50 now,” said grocer Zafer Gundogdu in the Ferikoy neighborhood of Istanbul’s Sisli district. “Whatever they need, we are at the disposal of our old clients, either filling baskets dropped or delivering from 7am until 10pm.”

Butcher Zeynel Ozuner, whose business is in the same neighborhood, says he is doing what he can to ensure the elderly do not go without.

“They are also our neighbors. We deliver them bread or a newspaper, not just meat,” he said.

Turkey as of March 29 had officially recorded 108 deaths from coronavirus, most of them, according to Health Minister Fahrettin Koca, were elderly people.

“I am appealing to our elders. This society needs your life experience. Please do not risk your life and stick to the measures,” Koca said.

As well as the order for the elderly to stay home, authorities have taken a raft of measures from shutting schools and universities to banning mass prayers but so far have stopped short of a full lockdown.

Many elderly had flocked to outdoor areas and filled parks on a sunny Saturday before the ban entered into force despite government pleas to stay home.

In the southern city of Adiyaman, older people could be seen taking a turn on a swing or seesaw in a children’s park.

One of the old men even pushed his swinging friend with the help of his walking stick.

Younger people meanwhile took to social media, expressing hopes that the state would declare a “state of emergency” as they were unable to keep their parents at home and were worried.

Some municipalities across Turkey however have taken more drastic measures. Park benches have been uprooted from the ground by local officials in Uskudar on the Asian side of Istanbul to discourage older people going out.

The municipality also shared a witty tweet, “We love you but don’t force us to do this,” it read, showing a picture of an old man about to leave his apartment who finds his street dug up by a bulldozer. In the northwestern city of Edirne, parks were circled by a wire fence, while in Ankara, authorities suspended free public bus rides for the elderly.

Ester Hazan, a 70-year-old woman living in Istanbul, complained that the ban should be in place for everyone, not just the elderly. She had ventured out in the morning to do food shopping in order to look after her 100-year-old father who is staying with her. But, she was caught out by a shopkeeper.

“He threatened to call the police and yelled at me to go home. This is not fair,” she said.

For Yuksel, having her groceries delivered does not put paid to all her concerns.

“I am so sad, I am stuck at home,” she said from her window, visibly upset.

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