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THE OMBUDSMAN INSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC OF TÜRKİYE

2.1. Chief Ombudsman Mr. Şeref MALKOÇ

In the year 2020, humanity faced a pandemic crisis which is uncommon in history.
In the last days of 2019, a pandemic called COVID-19 emerged in the Wuhan city
of China, spread throughout the world in 2020 and severely affected all countries
without exception. As of the date these lines were written, 100 million people have been
infected with this pandemic and more than 2 million people have died. Countries have
had to take unprecedented restrictive measures to combat with this pandemic. In the
globalizing world, humanity had to give up many of the freedoms they were used to.
Countries closed their borders, national and international travels were banned, flights
suspended. After extensive and prolonged curfews, people could not leave their homes
for weeks. Schools, restaurants and places of prayer were closed. The mask we should
all be wearing in order to protect against the virus became an integral part of our face.
Besides, particularly in the European countries and in the US, hospitals and health
systems were proved to be insufficient. Countries could not provide medicines, oxygen
tubes or even hospital beds to patients. We have witnessed that developed states are
incapacitated by the tragic deaths of thousands of citizens living in the elderly care
centers. Tens of millions of people became unemployed, homeless and hungry. We
have witnessed that particularly disabled, elderly and immigrants have been more

12 2020 ANNUAL REPORT