January 2: Turkey reports a new refugee influx and possible crisis, as 250,000 Syrians flee Syria for Turkey, due to Syrian government attacks on rebel groups around Idlib.[2]
February 23: 2020 Iran–Turkey earthquakes: the first one occurred on 23 February, near Khoy in north-west Iran, close to the border with Turkey, killing 9 people in Başkale, Van. It hit at 9:23 a.m. local time (05:53 UTC) with a magnitude of 5.8 Mw. About 10 hours later the same area was hit by another major earthquake of 6.0 Mw .[10]
March 12: As part of the governmental measures for controlling the pandemic, primary and secondary schools were closed for 1 week from 16 March. Universities were also closed for 3 weeks.[14]
March 17: The first death from COVID-19 occurred in Turkey.[15]
March 21: A curfew was imposed by the government for people over 65.[16]
March 27: All educational programs were suspended until April 30 as a result of governmental measures for controlling the COVID-19 pandemic.[17]
April
April 3: A curfew was imposed by the government for people under 20.[18]
April 10: As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, a curfew was declared in 31 provinces.[19]
April 17: In order to control the spread of COVID-19, a curfew was declared in 31 provinces which was set to last over the weekend.[20]
April 20: Another curfew was announced by the government in 30 metropolitan municipalities and Zonguldak, restricting movement across the cities between April 23 and 27.[21]
April 27: Another curfew was announced by the government in 30 metropolitan municipalities and Zonguldak, restricting movement across the cities between 1–3 May.[22]
June
June 1: Prohibitions and measures introduced to combat the COVID-19 pandemic started to be gradually lifted. The normalization process began.[23]
Turkey has found 320 billion cubic meters of natural gas in the biggest ever discovery in the Black Sea, and hopes to begin production by 2023. The Turkish drilling ship Fatih, had been carrying out exploration operations in the Tuna-1 sector in the western Black Sea for the past month.[32]
September 27: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced that Turkey would support Azerbaijan during the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.[40]
October
October 11: Forest fires that started in Belen, Hatay, spread to other districts. 400 hectares of forest burned.[41]
October 12: In-person education was enforced for students in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 8th and 12th grades.[42]
October 17: Erdoğan announced that 85 billion cubic meters of natural gas was discovered in the Black Sea.[43]
October 26: A suicide bombing perpetrated by the PKK occurred on Fener Street in İskenderun,[44] injuring several people and killing the perpetrator.
October 30: The 2020 Aegean Sea earthquake with an epicenter close to the Gulf of Kuşadası caused building damages and tsunami on the Turkish west coast. More than 110 people were killed and over 1100 were injured.[45]
November
November 2: In person education started gradually for students, including 5th and 12th grades.[46]
November 5: With the circular issued by the Ministry of Interior, new measures were announced to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.[47]
November 9: Treasury and Finance Minister Berat Albayrak's request for resignation was accepted by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Lütfi Elvan was appointed as the new Minister of Treasury and Finance.[48][49]
November 18: With the circular issued by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, curfews and many new measures were introduced to be enforced on weekends, excluding activities occurring between 10:00 am – 08:00 pm.[48]
December
December 10: The ministry of health announced the total number of coronavirus cases in Turkey as 1,748,567.[51]
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