MFA: Evacuation buses depart from bus stations in Turkish provinces for Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry has announced that evacuation buses depart from bus stations in Turkish provinces for Azerbaijan.

The ministry made the statement in a report posted on its website on February 7, Caliber.Az reports.

"Registration of documents of Azerbaijani citizens whose documents were lost or became unusable during the earthquake is carried out in a simplified manner by the Azerbaijani embassy and consulates general in Türkiye. Starting from 15:00 on February 7, evacuation buses depart from the bus stations of the Turkish provinces of Kahramanmaras, Malatya, Gaziantep and Adana to Azerbaijan. In the first stage, the evacuation of students studying in Türkiye and persons in need of urgent assistance will be carried out. Currently, a group of employees of the Azerbaijani embassy in Türkiye and the military attache at the embassy have been sent to the earthquake-affected regions in order to ensure evacuation," the ministry said.

It noted that Azerbaijani citizens seeking evacuation can contact by phone: +90 536 459 40 35, +90 536 471 55 68, +90 501 031 80 80, +90 552 627 92 94 and +90 532 254 19 33.

To locate and evacuate the citizens of the Republic of Azerbaijan affected by the earthquake, operational headquarters are working at the Azerbaijani embassy in Türkiye, at the Consulates General in Istanbul and Kars. According to the appeals of citizens received by the hotlines that work 24 hours a day, and according to the data obtained, lists of Azerbaijani citizens living or temporarily settled in the earthquake-affected provinces of Türkiye (Kahramanmaras, Hatay, Adana, Malatya, Gaziantep, Adiyaman, Sanliurfa, Kilis, Osmaniye, Diyarbakir, Elazig and Mersin). It noted that citizens wishing to get evacuated to Azerbaijan are accommodated in buses allocated for this purpose.

The statement said that Azerbaijan demonstrates solidarity with fraternal Türkiye in eliminating the consequences of the devastating earthquake that occurred on February 6 in Kahramanmaras and adjacent regions.

To support search and rescue operations conducted in the earthquake area, on behalf of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, the rescue squad of the Azerbaijani Emergency Situations Ministry numbering 420 people with equipment and dogs was sent to Türkiye on February 6 and has already started work.

To eliminate the consequences of the earthquake, a mobile field hospital of the Emergency Situations Ministry, equipped with the necessary medical equipment and consumables, and hospital staff consisting of 41 people (34 medical and seven non-medical workers) were sent to Türkiye. Under Ilham Aliyev's instruction, a group of the Azerbaijani army's military medical personnel, including 10 military doctors and eight nurses, also went to Türkiye.