Turkiye has finalized preparations for evacuation of its nationals from Ukraine: Top diplomat

By Behlul Cetinkaya

ANKARA (AA) – Turkiye has finalized preparations for the evacuation of Turkish nationals from Ukraine amid Russia’s military intervention in the country, the Turkish foreign minister said Thursday.

“We have been working on the evacuation of our citizens from the very beginning. We are ready, but the airspace is currently closed,” Mevlut Cavusoglu told local broadcaster A Haber in an interview.

Noting that the option to evacuate by land is on the table, Cavusoglu said: “When the situation calms down, we will be able to take our citizens to Moldova, Romania and Poland by land.”

He noted that there are also currently conflicts on the sea route, especially in the Odessa region.

“Marine traffic is also closed at the moment,” he said, adding when it reopens, evacuations can be done via sea.

Cavusoglu said agreements were made with bus companies in Ukraine in case of evacuation by land. Countries such as Poland, Moldova and Romania will not require visas from Turkish citizens or PCR tests or COVID vaccination certificates during a possible land evacuation, he added.

Unlike European Union countries, Turkiye and Ukraine introduced a passport-free regime between the two countries in 2017.

Ukraine’s health minister said late Thursday that at least 57 Ukrainian military personnel and civilians had been killed due to Russia’s military intervention in the country.

- Donbas crisis and Russia's military intervention

The February 2014 “Maidan revolution” in Ukraine led to former President Viktor Yanukovych fleeing the country and a pro-Western government coming to power.

That was followed by Russia illegally annexing the Crimea region and separatists declaring independence in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Donbas in eastern Ukraine, both of which have large ethnic Russian populations.

As clashes erupted between Russian-backed separatist forces and the Ukrainian army, the 2014 and 2015 Minsk Agreements were signed in Moscow after the intervention of Western powers.

The conflict, however, simmered for years with persistent cease-fire violations.

As of February 2022, some 14,000 people have been killed in the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

Tensions started escalating late last year when Ukraine, the US and its allies accused Russia of amassing tens of thousands of troops on the border with Ukraine.

They claimed Russia was preparing to invade its western neighbor, allegations that were consistently rejected by Moscow.

Defying threats of sanctions by the West, Moscow officially recognized Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states earlier this week, followed by the start of a military operation in Ukraine on Thursday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said the operation aims to protect people “subjected to genocide” by Kyiv and to “demilitarize and de-Nazify” Ukraine, while calling on the Ukrainian army to lay down its arms.