Wounded Palestinians arrive in Turkey for treatment

ANKARA – Reuters

A Palestinian, who was injured in clashes in the Gaza strip, is carried on a stretcher to an ambulance after the arrival of a group of injured Palestinians at Ankara's Esenboga airport, on August 11, 2014. AFP Photo

Four wounded Palestinians from the Gaza Strip arrived in the Turkish capital early on Aug. 11 after being flown in for medical treatment, with more expected, in a move announced by prime minister and president-elect Tayyip Erdogan.
   
"Our wounded from Gaza have started to come," Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu told reporters at the airport in Ankara, where he greeted the Palestinians, three women and a youth who were then taken to hospital.
   
"In the first stage we plan to bring to Turkey, and treat, maybe 200 patients," Davutoğlu said, adding that further patients would be brought by planes in groups of around 40 after agreeing the move in talks with Israel and Egypt.
   
Davutoğlu told Reuters in an interview last Wednesday that Turkey was seeking to establish an air corridor to evacuate possibly thousands of injured Palestinians and Erdogan confirmed the move in his first speech after his victory in a presidential election.