By Fatih Mehmet Kurkcu, Ilhami Erkilic and Yunus Hocaoglu
SAMSUN/ERZURUM, Turkey (AA) – Turkey brought back 390 more Turkish nationals from African and Balkan countries Tuesday as part of ongoing repatriation efforts for Ramadan amid the coronavirus pandemic.
A total of 119 nationals from Kenya and 153 from Tanzania arrived at Samsun Airport in northwestern Turkey.
Meanwhile, 118 nationals from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia were brought to the eastern city Erzurum.
After routine health checks coordinated by the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD), all of the nationals were taken to dormitories in their arrival cities to be quarantined.
They expressed gratitude and thanked Turkey for bringing them home.
At the instruction of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and in coordination with the Foreign Ministry, Turkey repatriated nearly 25,000 citizens from 59 countries ahead of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
The Turkish government has repatriated around 60,000 of its nationals from various countries since the start of the pandemic.
In Turkey, a total of 38,809 patients have been discharged from hospitals after recovering from the virus, while the death toll stands at 2,992 as of Tuesday.
The pandemic has killed more than 217,000 people worldwide and infected over 3.1 million, while at least 928,000 have recovered, according to Johns Hopkins University of the US.
*Writing by Firdevs Bulut
