124 overseas Turkish citizens die due to coronavirus

ANKARA A total of 124 overseas Turkish citizens died due to the coronavirus, said the country’s foreign minister on Thursday. Mevlut Cavusoglu made these remarks after attending a NATO foreign ministers' meeting. He said more than 20,000 citizens in total have been brought back to Turkey from 50 countries. Cavusoglu added that on March 17 and March 23-24, 5,528 citizens were brought back to the country from 17 countries. The foreign minister said together with relevant institutions efforts were underway for the return of more citizens, who have recently made requests. Around 1,700 Algerian citizens stranded in Turkey will be sent back to their country starting from Friday, Cavusoglu said, noting he had spoken to his Algerian counterpart Sabri Boukadoum on the issue. He noted there are 1,200 Turkish citizens stranded in Algeria and they would be brought back via Turkish and Algerian airlines. As many as 1,000 Turkish citizens in Saudi Arabia will be also brought back on the instructions of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. All the passengers will be put in quarantine upon their arrival, Cavusoglu said. According to deputy foreign minister, 47 Turkish citizens died in France, 23 in Germany, 20 in the Netherlands, 10 in Belgium, nine in the U.K., six in U.S., five in Sweden, three in Switzerland and two in Austria.