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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Two-hundred-and-one people who had found themselves stranded in Turkey under the coronavirus lockdown were repatriated to the Kurdistan Region on Wednesday night on two specially chartered Iraqi Airways flights.
The Kurdistan Region has closed its land border with Turkey and grounded all flights to and from its two international airports under strict measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Turkey, which has the highest number of confirmed cases in the region, has likewise imposed strict controls on free movement.
Many Kurdistan Region residents were caught off guard when the lockdown was first imposed – miles from home and quickly running out of money.
Karwan Salaiy, head of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Department of Foreign Relations Protocol Department, told Rudaw the group returned on Wednesday included people studying abroad and those receiving medical treatment at foreign hospitals.
“In coordination with the Foreign Ministry of the federal government, 201 citizens, including patients and students, were repatriated from Ankara and Istanbul on two separate flights to the Kurdistan Region,” Salaiy said.
“So far, 1,470 people have been repatriated to the Kurdistan Region via Erbil International Airport.”
All 201 returnees will be placed in quarantine for 14 days. If they do not show signs of coronavirus symptoms, they will be allowed to return home.
Further flights are expected in the coming weeks to bring home others stranded under the lockdown. Travelers must pay for their own ticket, however.
“We have 14 representation offices across the world. We have already informed all of them that they should be in contact with the Kurdish diaspora countries in their respective countries so the KRG understands how many people from the Kurdistan Region are stuck outside,” Salaiy added.
One student who spoke to Rudaw after arriving at Erbil airport on Wednesday night said the situation in Turkey’s commercial capital of Istanbul is “very bad” as “people do not abide by the [health] instructions] and it keeps getting worse.”
He has been waiting for a month to get a seat on a flight home, he said.
Coronavirus containment measures have left scores of students from the Kurdistan Region stranded in Turkey and Northern Cyprus.
A group of 176 students was returned last month after submitting a petition to the KRG demanding help.
“We did not return to Kurdistan because we did not expect the Kurdistan Region’s border with Turkey to be closed,” the students told Rudaw at the time.
“Some of the students cannot afford to buy their daily needs due to the lockdown and the lack of means to transfer money [from the Kurdistan Region].”
“The sooner we return to Kurdistan, the lower the risk of being infected with the virus,” they added.
The deadline for Kurdistan Region citizens to return and submit to a period of quarantine expired on March 17 – meaning anyone still beyond its borders must now wait for a seat to become available on a repatriation flight.
Young scholars from the Kurdistan Region have traveled in growing numbers in recent years to study at universities in Turkey, Northern Cyprus, Iran, India, and other countries where tuition fees and living costs are cheaper.
According to the latest KRG data, 9,840 people have been quarantined in the Kurdistan Region since the outbreak began.
The Kurdistan Region has so far recorded 391 cases of COVID-19. Of this number, 350 have recovered, five have died, and 36 cases remain active.
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