12 Free Flights Return Iranians from Turkey
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization (CAO) announced that the country’s airlines have operated 12 empty flights to Turkey to bring back Iranian travelers stranded there after an attempted military coup caused turmoil in the neighboring country.
After the CAO permitted the country’s airlines to operate flights to Turkey, 12 free flight have been operated since Saturday afternoon, the head of the CAO public relations department, Reza Jafarzadeh, said on Sunday.
Such flights will “continue to make sure that no Iranian passenger is left in Turkey,” he noted.
Jafarzadeh had said on Saturday that scheduled flights to Turkey from Iran’s airports would remain suspended.
Iran is monitoring the situation in Turkey, he said at the time, adding that normal flights will resume as soon as Turkish airports return to service and there is assurance that flights would be operated in safety.
For several hours overnight on Friday, violence shook Turkey’s two main cities, as the armed faction which tried to seize power blocked a bridge in Istanbul and strafed the headquarters of Turkish intelligence and parliament in Ankara.
At least 265 people were killed. An official said 161 of them were mostly civilians and police officers, while the remaining 104 were coup supporters.