Turkey evacuates 1,404 people from Afghanistan: FM

“So far, we have evacuated 1404 people from Afghanistan, 1061 of whom are our citizens,” said Çavusoğlu, during a joint press conference with Uruguayan Foreign Minister Francisco Bustillo.

“There are about 4,500 Turkish nationals in Afghanistan. We called every one of them on the phone. Some of them told us that they didn’t want to leave Afghanistan,” Çavuşoğlu said.

After the Taliban's takeover of Kabul, the countries rushed to evacuate their citizens and local staff from Afghanistan.

The US State Department issued a statement that relocation cases would be processed in third countries, citing Turkey as a possible venue. The US had not previously discussed this possibility with Turkey. According to some media outlets, Turkey responded negatively and “blasted the US for recommending that Afghans fearful of a vengeful Taliban seek asylum in America from third countries”.

Turkey already hosts around six million refugees of the Syrian Civil War, more than any other country, and officials said it does not have the capacity to absorb the wave of refugees from Afghanistan and that it was “irresponsible” of the US administration to make these types of plans without consultation or discussion. (ILKHA)