The evacuation of Kyrgyz citizens located in the Middle East is actively ongoing. This was reported at a briefing by Seytek Jumakadyrov uulu, the director of the Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
According to Jumakadyrov uulu, the Ministry is making every effort to return citizens to their homeland. Consulates located in various countries are working around the clock to promptly address the issues that citizens may have.
He noted that all expenses for the transportation of citizens, carried out through three flights, were covered by the state at the direction of the president, which has become a significant event in the last ten years.
The evacuation was offered to those citizens who are in Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia. Plans for the next 3–4 days include transporting the remaining citizens. However, some of them are deciding to stay, especially those who have lived and worked in these countries for a long time.
Additionally, he mentioned that some previously canceled flights have been resumed.
“According to the latest data, about 22 thousand citizens were abroad. The largest number of them were in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, and most of them were pilgrims who went for Umrah,” he reported.
Currently, the airline Flynas has resumed regular flights on the Jeddah–Osh and Jeddah–Bishkek routes, and FlyDubai operates daily flights from the UAE. Over the past two days, Air Arabia has also resumed its flights. Airports in Saudi Arabia and the UAE are open for international flights.
Jumakadyrov uulu noted that approximately 3 thousand citizens have returned to Kyrgyzstan so far, of which 426 arrived on specially organized flights, while the others returned independently.
He also reported that about 100 citizens are in Iran and 97 in Israel. Most of them have dual citizenship, and no requests for evacuation have been received from them so far. There is a Kyrgyz consulate operating in Iran, and an honorary consul in Israel. Consulate staff maintain constant communication with citizens and monitor the situation.
