Authorities in Istanbul have mandated 24-hour audio and video surveillance for businesses following the suspected chemical poisoning deaths of a German family of four from Hamburg.
The Istanbul Governor’s Office announced on Wednesday that all establishments must record and store footage continuously for 30 days. It remains unclear whether the regulation applies exclusively to food-related businesses.
Street vendors will face heightened inspections, and pest-control companies will be subject to increased oversight, the statement said.
The directive follows a preliminary forensic report indicating the family – a father, mother and their two young children – likely died from chemical poisoning at their hotel, according to state broadcaster TRT. Authorities are investigating whether the exposure resulted from pest control measures at the facility.
Initial investigations pointed to food poisoning after the wife and children fell ill and died last week, sparking widespread media attention on food safety in Istanbul. Four individuals remain in custody over food products believed to have been consumed by the family.
The father, who died late Monday, was buried on Wednesday in Afyonkarahisar, western Türkiye, alongside his wife and children.
Relatives attended the funeral, and the wife’s father told Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) that one of the children would have turned 6 on Thursday. “They wanted to eat cake with the family,” he said.
