Iraq evacuates 20 nationals from Turkey’s quake-hit areas, says foreign ministry

The official did not elaborate further on which quake-affected areas the nationals had been evacuated.

Kurdistan 24 2023/02/15 11:43

a Turkish flag waving over rubbles of destroyed buldings in Antakya, Hatay, a week after a deadly earthquake struck parts of Turkey and Syria, Feb. 14, 2023. (Photo: Hassan Ayadi/AFP)

Iraq Iraq Turkey Syria Earthquake Evacuation

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – At least 20 nationals have been evacuated from Turkey’s affected areas by the Feb. 6 deadly earthquake in Iraq, according to the country’s foreign ministry.

The evacuation comes as the foreign ministry has recently announced that at least 11 Iraqi nationals were killed by the devastating 7.8-magnitude in the country.

Twenty Iraqi citizens have returned back to Iraq on a “special evacuation flight,” Ahmed Al-Sahaf, the Iraqi foreign ministry’s spokesperson, announced on Tuesday.

The official did not elaborate further on which quake-affected areas the nationals had been evacuated.

The ministry issued 61 "transit passports" - emergency travel documents in case a passport is stolen or lost - to Iraqi nationals, according to Al-Sahaf.

The Iraqi ministry of transportation on Thursday said that it would arrange evacuation flights for those Iraqis that wish to come back to the country from Turkey.

At least 10 provinces in Turkey’s southeast provinces have been rocked by the earthquake and its numerous strong aftershocks that killed more than 35,400 people, according to the latest official tally.

Turkey is home to a sizeable Iraqi community that visits and lives in the country for numerous reasons, including health tourism, trade, and education.

Iraq and Kurdistan Region are among the 90 countries that had extended help to Turkey, including by dispatching medical and rescue teams.

President Nechirvan Barzani on Tuesday visited the affected areas, where he met with the displaced residents and officials.

The Kurdish rescue teams and aid workers have been deployed to a number of the quake-hit areas, where they saved a number of civilians under the rubble.

In neighboring Syria, in which over 5,000 has been killed by the quake, Kurdish aid workers helping those that are affected by the disaster.

Barzani pledged to do more to help those in Rojava, the Kurdish term for Western Kurdistan, encompassing the predominantly-Kurdish areas in northeast Syria.