'Turkey included in Hungary's list of safe countries'

By Suleyman Elcin and Hatice Ozdemir Tosun

ANTALYA, Turkey (AA) - Hungary has included Turkey in the list of safe countries to travel amid the coronavirus pandemic, the Turkish foreign minister announced on Friday.

“Hungarian foreign minister called me and said Turkey is in the list of safe countries and they will not impose 14-day quarantine for Hungarian tourists coming back from Turkey,” Mevlut Cavusoglu said at a joint new conference with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba.

Cavusoglu and Dmytro, the first guest minister visiting Turkey’s southern resort city of Antalya since the start of the novel coronavirus, held the news conference following the eighth meeting of Turkey-Ukraine Joint Strategic Planning Group.

The Turkish foreign minister also said that the UK also included Turkey in the list of 59 safe countries for travel.

“Countries are announcing Turkey as a safe country, when objective criteria are considered,” he added.

On Tuesday, EU members decided to lift travel restrictions initially for 15 countries, including Canada, Algeria, Tunisia, Serbia, Rwanda, South Korea and Thailand, after a long debate among the member states.

The EU’s decision drew criticism from Ankara, with Turkish officials stressing that their country, which has successfully managed the pandemic process, should have been included in the list.