Passenger Flights Between Turkey and Iran Suspended

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The Turkish Civil Aviation Authority (SHGM) has announced that passenger flights between Turkey and Iran have been suspended.

The announcement of the authority came yesterday (February 26) amid rising concerns over coronavirus, which has recently spread to Turkey's neighboring countries of Iran, Greece and Georgia, too.

The SHGM has made the following statement on its official Twitter account:

"Passenger flights between Turkey and Iran have been suspended until further notice and Iranian carriers will be allowed to transport passengers from Turkey to Iran with the condition of coming without any passengers. Turkish passengers will not be carried on these flights."

According to latest reports, 19 people lost their lives due to coronavirus (Covid-19) and the number of people diagnosed with the virus is 139.

Minister Koca: No positive cases

Making a statement about the issue yesterday, Minister of Health Fahrettin Koca said that "Turkey has yet to see any confirmed cases of coronavirus, but it reached the country's doorstep."

On flights bringing back citizens of Turkey from Iran, Koca told the state-run Anadolu Agency in the capital Ankara that "We can easily say that none of our passengers' results are positive [for coronavirus], they are all negative."

''Our main aim is to prevent the spread of the disease in Turkey,'' he said.

"The epicenter of the virus is China. But now new sources have emerged, such as Iran," Minister Koca said, adding that Turkey has set up field hospitals at its border with Iran.

Koca denied Turkey was hiding cases saying it is difficult to do that with the World Health Organization (WHO) monitoring the situation. (EKN/SD)