The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bogdan Aurescu, on Wednesday informed that, so far, 21 Romanian citizens have been brought back to the country from Turkey, with the support of the Ministry of National Defence, and another five will be brought back today, according to Agerpres.

„Yesterday I spoke with my counterpart by phone. I assured my Turkish colleagues of all the concrete support and solidarity of Romania in these extremely difficult moments. The Turkish authorities, as you know, thank you very much for this concrete support that I have granted, especially since Romania was the first state among the member states of the European Union that concretely arrived on the ground in the fastest way possible,” said Aurescu, at the beginning of the Government meeting.

He recalled that steps were taken to help the Romanians in Turkey who want to be repatriated.

„The Romanian Embassy in Ankara is in permanent contact with all Romanian citizens who have reported their presence on the territory of Turkey, especially in the areas affected by the earthquake. Steps have been taken to help those who wish to repatriate to return well in Romania. So far, 21 Romanian citizens have been brought back to the country with the support of the Ministry of National Defence. Also, another group of five Romanian citizens are being brought back today, by a scheduled flight. The Embassy of Romania in Ankara supported their boarding the plane today, so I hope they arrive safely in Romania soon,” the minister said.

According to Aurescu, attention is being paid to another group of seven medical students who are part of an Erasmus program. They will also be helped to return to the country, probably also by one of the aircraft of the Ministry of National Defence.

„Also, there are still 10 Romanian citizens in the care of the Romanian Embassy in Ankara, together with three family members, but they are in remote areas (…) far from the airports, so that they cannot be taken over directly from a Turkish airport. We are making efforts to help them reach these airports and we are permanently in touch with them. Also, there are a number of 36 Romanian citizens who are in contact with the Romanian Embassy in Ankara but did not request for repatriation. They only had specific questions regarding various aspects related to the situation in Turkey,” added Bogdan Aurescu.

He informed that from Syria, until this moment, there are no repatriation requests from Romanian citizens.

„As you know, we also took steps with the Syrian authorities to provide us with a list of equipment and concrete needs for humanitarian aid. We promptly sent this list to colleagues from the Ministry of Interior, to the Ministry of Health,” explained Aurescu, adding that they are trying to identify some modes of transport for these aids.

Agerpres