‘EU must correct ‘mistake’ of travel list exclusion’

TURKEY said on Wednesday it is disappointed by the European Union’s decision to exclude it from a list of countries recommended for non-essential travel and called on the bloc to correct the “mistake” as soon as possible.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry statement came after the EU excluded Turkey, along with the

United States and other countries, from its initial travel “safe list”.

“The measures Turkey has taken to combat the coronavirus pandemic as well as her efforts and success in this respect are evident,” ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy said in the statement.

“We expect the correction of this mistake regarding the travel restrictions for our citizens as soon as possible.”

There have been nearly 200,000 cases of coronavirus in Turkey, with a death toll of more than 5,100 and new daily cases currently running at around 1,300. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and Tourism Minister Mehmet Ersoy will visit Berlin on Thursday for talks with German officials to discuss the pandemic and tourism among other issues. Germany is a key source of tourists for Turkey.

Earlier on Wednesday, President Tayyip Erdoğan had told officials from his AK Party that Europe had maintained “restrictive” policies towards Turkey which were based on political rather than health factors.