Turkey Plans to Reopen All Schools as Long as Virus Keeps Receding

Seagulls in front of the Maiden's Tower in Istanbul on April 8, 2020 (AFP)
Seagulls in front of the Maiden's Tower in Istanbul on April 8, 2020 (AFP)
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Turkey Plans to Reopen All Schools as Long as Virus Keeps Receding

Seagulls in front of the Maiden's Tower in Istanbul on April 8, 2020 (AFP)
Seagulls in front of the Maiden's Tower in Istanbul on April 8, 2020 (AFP)

Turkey plans to reopen schools nationwide on Aug. 31, to get students back into classrooms and free up working parents, assuming a recent stabilization in coronavirus cases holds.

Teachers and administrators are preparing on-site health precautions, but two government sources told Reuters that the daily infection rate may need to dip below the more than 900 seen recently to allow them to execute what they called Plan A.

Schools shifted to distance education in March, when Turkey identified its first case and began restricting movement.

Much of the economy reopened on June 1, after the school year ended, but masks and other hygiene measures are still required in public.

“We have been told that the schools will reopen, so we will see how it goes,” said a first-grade teacher in the southern city of Antalya. “I do feel a bit concerned about my students’ and my family’s health, of course.”

About half of Turkey’s nearly 230,000 cases and more than 5,600 deaths are in its biggest city, Istanbul, the government says. The capital Ankara and Diyarbakir in the mainly Kurdish southeast have also been hotspots.

One government source said that “if the number of cases decreases, all schools will be opened”, but that otherwise schools in high-infection areas might remain closed.

A second senior official said classes might have to remain online for some southeastern provinces. “The normalization is under way ... but the numbers should have fallen faster.”

A primary school teacher based in the southeast said some of her students had not had the means to attend online classes, adding: “Online teaching can never be as efficient as classroom learning.”

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his cabinet will make a final decision late next month based on the spread of infection and advice from scientists, the officials said.

Turkey's economy virtually stagnated in the second quarter and is expected to shrink this year.



Iran’s President Says Tehran Open to Dialogue with US, Accuses Israel of Assassination Attempt

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian speaks during a meeting in Ilam, Iran, June 12, 2025. Iran's Presidential website/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via Reuter
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian speaks during a meeting in Ilam, Iran, June 12, 2025. Iran's Presidential website/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via Reuter
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Iran’s President Says Tehran Open to Dialogue with US, Accuses Israel of Assassination Attempt

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian speaks during a meeting in Ilam, Iran, June 12, 2025. Iran's Presidential website/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via Reuter
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian speaks during a meeting in Ilam, Iran, June 12, 2025. Iran's Presidential website/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via Reuter

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said he believes Iran can resolve its differences with the United States through dialogue, but trust would be an issue after US and Israeli attacks on his country, according to an interview released on Monday.

"I am of the belief that we could very much easily resolve our differences and conflicts with the United States through dialogue and talks," Pezeshkian told conservative US podcaster Tucker Carlson in an interview conducted on Saturday.

The Iranian leader urged US President Donald Trump not to be drawn into war with Iran by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is visiting Washington on Monday for talks at the White House.

"The United States' president, Mr. Trump, he is capable enough to guide the region towards the peace and a brighter future and put Israel in its place. Or get into a pit, an endless pit, or a swamp," Pezeshkian said. "So it is up to the United States president to choose which path."

White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said she was not sure if Trump had seen the Iranian president's comments, but agreed he was the right man to move the region towards peace.

Pezeshkian blamed Israel, Iran's arch-enemy, for the collapse of talks that were in place when Israel began its strikes on Iran on June 13, starting a 12-day air war with Israel in which top Iranian commanders and nuclear scientists were killed.

"How are we going to trust the United States again?" Pezeshkian said. "How can we know for sure that in the middle of the talks the Israeli regime will not be given the permission again to attack us?"

Pezeshkian also said that Israel tried to assassinate him.

"They did try, yes," he said. "They acted accordingly, but they failed."

Israel did not immediately respond to the allegation. A senior Israeli military official said last month that Israel killed more than 30 senior security officials and 11 senior nuclear scientists in its attack on to Iran's nuclear sites.

Trump said he expected to discuss Iran and its nuclear ambitions with Netanyahu, praising the US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites as a tremendous success. On Friday, he told reporters that he believed Tehran's nuclear program had been set back permanently, although Iran could restart efforts elsewhere.

Iran has always denied seeking a nuclear weapon.