Turkey schedules new evacuation flights for Turks in US

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey has scheduled four new evacuation flights from the coronavirus-hit US for its citizens who have short-term visas, the Turkish Embassy in Washington announced.

To ensure the return of these Turkish nationals, “Turkish Airlines is planning to organize one commercial flight from New York and Chicago on May 15, 2020, from Houston on May 16, 2020 and from Miami on May 17, 2020," the embassy said late Thursday in a Twitter statement.

Citizens who take these flights must make a written commitment to remain in quarantine for 14 days following their arrival in Turkey.

Such quarantines are standard for citizens returning to Turkey since the virus outbreak began.

Those who show symptoms of COVID-19 on the day of the flight or who have been diagnosed with the virus beforehand will not be accepted for the flights.

Tickets for these flights will be sold by Turkish Airlines, primarily for citizens who have short-term visas and have already filed a request with the Turkish Embassy or Consulate to return, according to the statement. They will be informed about the process via email.

A further announcement will be made if there is room on the flights for more citizens.

The US is the country hardest-hit by the global pandemic with more than 1.25 million cases and nearly 75,700 fatalities, according to a running tally by Johns Hopkins University.

As of Thursday, Turkey reported a total of 133,721 coronavirus cases, nearly 83,000 of which have fully recovered, according to the Turkish Health Ministry. The death toll stands at 3,641.