Turkey brings back stranded nationals from Greek port

EDİRNE-Anadolu Agency

A group of passengers from a Greek cruise ship were returned to Turkey by bus after being quarantined April 3, along with the ship’s crew, following the detection of the novel coronavirus onboard.

The 160 passengers, including 152 Turkish nationals, on the El Venizelos, docked in southern Greece, were taken to dormitories, in Tekirdağ and Çanakkale provinces, to be monitored for two weeks.

Turkey’s ambassador to Greece, Burak Özügergin, had said that Ankara green-lighted an initiative to bring back all 160 passengers once they all emerged on April 17 night from the standard 14-day quarantine and underwent the necessary health checks.

Meanwhile, Turkey will continue to evacuate its nationals from across the globe amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The Foreign Ministry retweeted posts from different Turkish embassies that called on citizens, who want to return to the country, to contact Turkish embassies via email or phone as soon as possible.

All those Turkish citizens, who work or study abroad or travel for a short period of time, can apply for the evacuation.

A Turkish official said on April 18 that as many as 1,765 Turkish citizens were brought back to the country in a day.

The nationals were brought back from the U.K., Netherlands, Poland, Ukraine, Kuwait and Kazakhstan, Yavuz Selim Kıran, the deputy foreign minister, said on Twitter.

The citizens have been put under quarantine as part of measures to curb the spread of the virus.