People return from coastal towns as Eid al-Adha holiday ends

ISTANBUL

Instanbulites who left the city to vacation at coastal towns during the nine-day-long Eid al-Adha holiday headed back as the holiday ended, creating traffic congestion on some highways.

In the southern province of Antalya’s Alanya district, where 364,000 people live, tourists completely filled the hotels’ capacity of 165,000 for the holiday and almost doubled the district’s population.

People who did not make hotel reservations before the start of the holiday spent the nine days on public beaches by finding a way out, such as sleeping in their cars, tents, or sunbeds offered at public beaches.

Negligent vacationers in Antalya’s Adrasan and Olympos trashed the tourism centers as garbage bags accumulated on the roadsides and around forests.

Kumluca Municipality Cleaning Affairs Manager Tamer Aksu stated that waste is collected usually once a day in Adrasan and Olympos regions but they had to collect garbage six times a day during the holiday.

On the other hand, Istanbul has seen its quietest and emptiest days, as remaining locals and tourists enjoyed this peaceful period in the metropolitan.

Those who stayed in Istanbul took advantage of the free public transport and paid visits to the Princes’ Islands, forming long queues at Kabataş and Kadıköy piers.

As vacationers returned to Istanbul, kilometers-long vehicle queues were formed. In the meantime, traffic police teams warned drivers about excessive speed and seat belts.

A slight traffic jam on the Anatolian Motorway in the direction of Istanbul was also observed, but the traffic flow suffered no disruption.

Traffic congestion was also observed on the route from Tekirdağ to Istanbul, with people heading back to the city from the Thrace region and the western province of Çanakkale.

The police and gendarmerie units patrolled the highways and finned drivers for using or parking their vehicles on safety lanes.

Drivers who could not find a place in the Istanbul Airport parking lot, which has a capacity of 40,000 vehicles, had to park their cars on the transit road.

In a statement on his social media post, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya warned citizens to obey traffic rules and stay safe.

“We are nearing the end of the nine-day Eid al-Adha holiday. Now the return journeys have started. Please follow the traffic rules, let’s be careful. Do not make your loved ones who are waiting for your ‘we arrived safely’ phone call suffer! You can call our 112 Emergency call center whenever you need,” the statement read.