In her comment to Turmush, Nurzhanat reported that she and other compatriots have been unable to leave the country for 4 days. “We created a group on social media, which now has about 500 people. Local residents express concern that the military actions will not stop anytime soon. Because of this, some of our compatriots decided to return home. My daughter and I went on vacation through a tour that ended 4 days ago, but we cannot fly out. The travel agency through which we booked our vacation is completely unconcerned about our situation,” she said.
According to her, the hotel allowed them to stay for 3 days, but that period has expired. “On March 3, we were informed that some Kyrgyz citizens would be evacuated with the help of our government, and we were offered tickets only for March 6. It would be nice if mothers with children were sent first,” Nurzhanat added.
- The President of Kyrgyzstan, Sadyr Japarov, confirmed that work on the evacuation of citizens remaining in the Middle East and unable to return is ongoing without interruption.
According to the director of the Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Seitak Jumakadyrov, at a press conference, as of March 2, there were about 22,000 citizens of Kyrgyzstan in the Gulf countries.
He noted that the largest groups are in the UAE (approximately 10,000) and Saudi Arabia (6,000). “Given the escalation of the situation in the Middle East, the ministry is actively working to protect the rights of Kyrgyz citizens and is taking all necessary measures. This region includes Bahrain, Iraq, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait, as well as Israel and Iran,” he added.
At the moment, there is no information about injured or homeless Kyrgyz citizens; they are all receiving assistance from the consulates. There are particularly many requests for help coming from Dubai, where a large number of tourists are concentrated.
The conflict between the US and Israel with Iran began on February 28. This occurred after Washington and Tehran held negotiations on the Iranian nuclear program, during which the US demanded that Iran cease its development of nuclear weapons. The last round of negotiations took place in Geneva on February 26.
