Iran bringing nationals home from Turkey after coup attempt
Iran is sending at least 20 planes to Turkey to bring home its nationals stranded in the country hit by an abortive military coup, Iran's Civil Aviation Organization (CAO) says.
Reza Jafarzadeh, the CAO's public relations director said on Sunday that Iran had dispatched 20 flights to Turkey since Saturday evening to transfer Iranian passengers.
He said 17 flights have returned to Iran so far, adding that the process will continue until the complete transfer of all Iranians.
This as Iran resumed scheduled flights to Turkey on Sunday after the attempted military coup against the Turkish government failed.
“Scheduled flights of Iranian airliners and Turkish airliners resumed today,” Jafarzadeh added.
Following the coup attempt and closure of airports in Turkey, all flights were suspended on Friday night, he noted.
On Saturday, the deputy director of Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport (IKIA) said Iran had suspended all flights to Turkey after the coup bid in the neighboring country.
“All flights from this airport (IKIA) to Turkey have been suspended until further notice in order to ensure the safety of passengers,” Kourosh Fattahi told the official IRNA news agency.
The military coup began late on Friday, when a faction of the Turkish military blocked Istanbul’s iconic Bosphorus Bridge and strafed the headquarters of Turkish intelligence and parliament in the capital, Ankara.
Tanks, helicopters and soldiers clashed with police and people on the streets of the two main Turkish cities.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan rushed back to Istanbul from a Mediterranean holiday and called on people to defy the coup plotters’ orders of a curfew and stage a rally in support of his government.
With the putsch foiled, Turkish authorities rounded up almost 6,000 suspected military plotters on Saturday and ordered 2,745 judges and prosecutors to be arrested.
According to the latest reports, the death toll from Turkey’s failed coup stands at over 290, including 161 civilians and security forces as well as 104 coup supporters.
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