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Rabat – Morocco is set to repatriate today, June 16, approximately 300 Moroccans stranded in Turkey. The citizens will travel home from Istanbul, a Moroccan student living in Turkey told Morocco World News.
The soon-to-be-repatriated Moroccans are set to travel aboard three airplanes operated by national air carrier Royal Air Maroc.
The stranded nationals who were selected to take part in the flights received notifications from the Moroccan Consulate in Istanbul.
The flights are set to depart from Istanbul Airport and land at Tetouan’s Saniat R’mel Airport, in northern Morocco.
If the repatriation operation is similar to those that benefited Moroccans stranded in Algeria and Spain, the citizens will undergo a nine-day quarantine period in tourist resorts before going back home.
While official sources are yet to communicate on the repatriation process, it is likely that the list of Moroccans to return to their home country today prioritizes the elderly, as well as those who suffer from chronic illnesses or are in precarious financial situations.
According to the latest figures from Morocco’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the country’s border closure on March 15 left over 3,000 citizens stranded in Turkey.
Morocco World News attempted to contact the Moroccan Consulate in Istanbul to ask whether similar operations will continue to take place in the near future but received no answer.
Today’s operation is in line with the repatriation strategy that Minister of Foreign Affairs Nasser Bourita presented on June 9.
Speaking before the House of Councillors, Bourita said the repatriation will begin with Moroccans stranded in Spain, followed by Turkey, the Gulf countries, France, and other African states.
Between June 10-15, Morocco repatriated over 1,000 citizens from Spain, including tourists stuck in the Canary Islands.
Prior to the repatriation of Moroccans stranded in Spain, Morocco had arranged the repatriation of citizens stuck in the Spanish enclaves in northern Morocco, as well as Algeria.
Turkey is the third country Morocco has moved to repatriate its citizens from.
While thousands of Moroccans have been stranded abroad for three months, the repatriation process only began to accelerate in recent weeks. The number of Moroccans stuck abroad is unclear, but Moroccan diplomatic missions across the world reported receiving repatriation requests from at least 33,000 Moroccans.
