Turkey evacuates expats worldwide amid COVID-19

By Fecri Barlik, Mehmet Niyazi Deniz, Muharrem Cin and Eyup Elevli

SIIRT/ORDU/KUTAHYA, Turkey (AA) – Turkey evacuated more than 450 of its nationals Thursday from all over the world amid the coronavirus pandemic.

A specially arranged Turkish Airlines flight carrying 181 Turkish citizens left from Azerbaijan’s Ganja International Airport and landed in the Black Sea province of Ordu.

Separately, a total of 182 Turks were evacuated on a flight from Sudan and landed in Batman province. Following health checks, they were sent to Siirt province.

Meanwhile, a flight carrying 94 Turks from Serbia landed in Kutahya province.

All of the evacuees were housed at student dormitories for a 14-day quarantine in line with the country’s strict measures to stem the spread of the virus.

At the instruction of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and in coordination with the Foreign Ministry, Turkey will bring back nearly 25,000 citizens before the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan begins later this week.

Turkey confirmed 117 more fatalities from the coronavirus Wednesday, bringing the death toll to 2,376.

Since first appearing in Wuhan, China last December, the virus, officially known as COVID-19, has spread to at least 185 countries and regions, according to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University in the US.

More than 2.62 million cases have been confirmed worldwide and at least 183,000 deaths with over 709,000 recoveries.

*Writing by Gozde Bayar