Minivans

After quitting smoking two years ago and saving the money he would have otherwise spent on cigarettes, a man living in the western province of İzmir has turned his 2004 model vehicle into a caravan.

Mehmet Ardil, a 38-year-old auto electrician, decided to quit smoking two packs of cigarettes a day when he became a father of twin boys.

The coronavirus pandemic has caused a 30 percent jump in caravan sales in Turkey in a year and some 5,000 caravans are currently on the road across the country, according to a travel author.

"Like everything, the pandemic changed our travel and vacation mentality, too," Melih Uslu, the writer of the book "Anatolia By Car," told daily Milliyet.

Critics claim now government measures to clamp down on riots presage a return to martial law, but the government has defended its planned reforms