Algeria 'refusing entry' to over 1,000 citizens stranded at Istanbul airport

The Istanbul airport says Algeria has refused to grant landing rights to flights carrying the Algerian tourists back home.

MENA

1 min read

The New Arab & agencies

24 March, 2020

Algeria has suffered 19 deaths from the novel coronavirus [Getty]

More than 1,000 Algerian passengers are stranded at Turkey's Istanbul airport because of the coronavirus pandemic, the facility's operator said Tuesday, as Ankara urged Algiers to allow their return home.

Algiers is refusing to let them back into the country, according to IGA Airport Operations.

"We, as IGA, Turkish Red Crescent, Turkish Airlines and Havas [bus company] have been trying to satisfy the humanitarian needs and requirements of over 1,000 Algerian visitors for several days now," the operator said in a statement on Twitter.

"The Turkish government has been making efforts for a week now to persuade the Algerian government to grant landing rights for the affected flights."

The North African country had confirmed 264 COVID-19 infections and 19 deaths as of Tuesday.

The death toll from the highly contagious respiratory illness reached 44 in Turkey on Tuesday, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said. The number of coronavirus cases increased by 343 to 1,872 in total.