Ankara is preparing for the NATO leaders summit on July 7-8, with taxi drivers instructed to offer Turkish delight, cologne, and cold water to foreign guests arriving from 32 countries. Drivers also mandated to wear gray pants and white shirts to present a professional image. Authorities have also repaved roads, repaired infrastructure, planted flowers, and erected banners along delegation routes. However, these preparations have sparked public criticism on social media, with citizens arguing that improvements are being made to impress foreign leaders rather than benefit residents.

Taxi drivers in the capital city of Ankara will offer Turkish delight, cologne, and cold water to foreign guests during the upcoming NATO leaders summit on Jul 7-8.

The initiative is part of a series of measures introduced by the Drivers and Automobilists Federation of Turkey (TŞOF) to increase service quality for the event, which will bring together leaders from 32 countries.

Speaking to reporters, TŞOF Chair Mehmet Yiğiner announced that taxi drivers operating during the summit will wear gray pants and white shirts, and that vehicles will be fully prepared physically. 

Yiğiner noted that taxi drivers are the first people foreign guests encounter upon leaving the airport, meaning drivers will play a key role in promoting both Ankara and Turkey. “We want to serve our foreign guests in the best way possible,” he said.

Taxis in Turkey have a bad reputation among both locals and foreigners. While taxi drivers are often criticized for violating traffic rules, mistreating customers, and refusing local passengers in tourist areas to earn more money, they are also known among foreigners for overcharging tourists.

Summit preparations draw criticism

Ankara has implemented several other preparations for the summit. Authorities repaved damaged roads, repaired street defects, and leveled ground grates to match the road surface.

Roads to be used by foreign delegations have been lined with panels featuring banners themed around NATO and Turkish military equipment. Some claimed this was to cover the poor neighborhoods around the roads so that foreign delegations cannot see them.

Additionally, landscaping and flower planting were completed in front of hotels where foreign leaders are expected to stay.

A high-security “red zone” protocol will be enforced throughout the summit at airports, protocol routes, and areas where delegations reside. Some roads will be closed completely during the event, while others will close temporarily during convoy transits.

The preparations have drawn criticism from the public on social media, with citizens arguing that the improvements were made to please foreign leaders rather than serve residents.

“It turns out the government could fix everything in a single day if it wanted to,” one user wrote. “But they do not do it because they do not love us. Yet because they love them so much, they are doing everything.”

Another user posted, “Everything is for NATO, everything is for the European; keep going exactly like this!”

Another one wrote, “Could you host the next summit in Adana? Our roads are very bad.”

For some users, the summit measures recalled policies from the pandemic, when restrictions barred citizens from visiting restaurants or swimming in the sea while tourists were exempted. They shared photos from that period to highlight the parallel.

(VK)