Panacea

  By the Aras river just off the border with Armenia is a tiny Turkish village not many heard of and even fewer cared about until not that long ago.   Ayazkesti was somewhere nobody went to unless they had to, except for the casual smugglers stopping for supplies or seeking refuge from the sudden blizzards that ravage the unworldly terrain in winters. That is, nonetheless, where Bahar is from and where her greatest benefactor in life, Ayhan, lies buried today. From there, she feels, he watches over all that comes to pass as she became a pediatric surgeon and chooses to lead a life worthy of the honor following his example ever since.   No wonder, then, that Bahar has an immaculate record as a physician for she couldn't be expected of anything less with the textbook care she has provided to her patients. During her practice for over half a century, she has never failed anyone who relied on her and has always known how to maintain people's trust unscathed. The trick, she says whe

Turkey Country Risk Map: Orange (High Risk), Red (Extreme Risk). Source: Turkish Health Ministry. The number of reported Covid-19 cases in Turkey has grown more than two-fold after three weeks into a "controlled normalization period" kicked off to ease the economic toll the pandemic has taken on the country's economy. There were a total of 22,216 positive results out of 201,215 tests ran on March 22, the Turkish health ministry said Monday. That was up 8.75% just over the day before and a shocking 124% compared to March 1, the day the country allowed the re-opening of a slurry of businesses including cafes and restaurants for dining in 64 of all its 81 provinces. According to official figures, 117 people died of Covid-19 on March 22, up from 69 on March 1. The latest tally brought the number of fatalities the country reported due to the highly infectious disease since the start of the pandemic to 30,178.