Over 60,000 citizens brought back so far: Minister

ANKARA

More than 60,000 Turkish citizens have been brought back home from around the world during the novel coronavirus pandemic, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has said.

“Until today, we have brought more than 60,000 of our citizens home,” Çavuşoğlu said in a tweet on late April 25.

Çavuşoğlu also said that around 20,000 foreigners in Turkey were also returned to their own countries.

“We have provided 57 countries with medical equipment,” the top diplomat added.

Meanwhile, Deputy Foreign Minister Yavuz Selim Kıran said that on April 25, 1,411 Turkish citizens from eight different countries were evacuated.

Kıran said that the countries include the United States, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal and Somalia.

Turkey brought an additional 506 of its nationals from four African nations early on April 26 as part of its ongoing repatriation efforts for Ramadan amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to state-run Anadolu Agency.

On a special Turkish Airlines flight, 207 Turkish nationals that returned from Somalia and Djibouti have arrived in Turkey’s Nevşehir-Kapadokya Airport.

After health checks, they were sent to the central Nevşehir and Niğde provinces for quarantine.

A total of 133 citizens and 10 North Macedonians returned from Nigeria and Ghana on another special flight of Turkish Airlines that arrived in the Aegean İzmir province.

Following mandatory health checks, they were transported to the Aegean province of Aydın to be quarantined for two weeks at a dormitory.

Also, 166 Turkish citizens landed in Istanbul from Senegal and Mauritania and were sent to the northwestern Düzce province for quarantine.

Furthermore, Turkey on April 25 evacuated 260 citizens from Ethiopia who were stranded due to the coronavirus lockdown.

The chartered flight departed from Bole International Airport in the capital Addis Ababa.

According to the Turkish Embassy, there were 3,500 Turkish nationals living in Ethiopia and 500 had already left in the wake of coronavirus pandemic.

The evacuees will be quarantined for 14 days to prevent the spread of coronavirus.