Air pollution in Turkey’s prominent cities reaches alarming levels

ISTANBUL

The air quality in Turkey’s prominent cities is deteriorating day by day, with experts raising concerns as the air pollution in some cities of Turkey has reached alarming levels, according to the data of the Environment and Urbanization Ministry’s Continuous Monitoring Center.

The province that has the worst air quality in 2020 is the northwestern province of Düzce, as the index rating for clean air in the city, which should be between 0 and 50, rose to 174, according to the report.

It is followed by the capital city of Ankara with an index rating of 172 and the southeastern province of Hakkâri with an index rating of 171 in terms of “worst air quality.”

The cities with the cleanest air are the northwestern province of Bursa, the Black Sea province of Kastamonu and the eastern province of Bitlis.

The air quality index was measured as 10 in Bursa, known as an industrial city of Turkey, which is home to significant industrial organizations.

The air quality in Istanbul, which is home to nearly 16 million people, was measured at 96, while the air quality in the Aegean province of İzmir was seen as “sensitive” with a 111 index rating.

According to the reports, Antalya, the tourism city in the south of the country, has medium air quality with an index rating of 54.

An improvement was observed in the air quality of Turkey’s metropolis in the first half of this year as a result of the reduced traffic due to the measures taken within the scope of the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

Nearly 7.9 percent of all deaths could have been prevented in 2019 if air pollution in the country had been reduced to the WHO guideline value, according to a separate report that was published several months ago.

However, the level of air pollution started to rise again in June due to increased activity with the reopening of industrial plants and the lifting of travel restrictions.