Citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who were evacuated from Aleppo in Syria, will arrive in Bosnia and Herzegovina from Turkey today, confirmed to Anadolu Agency the Ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Ankara Mirsada Čolaković.
“The whole story about the evacuation of citizens from Syria lasts about seven days. It is a family with two children. So, there is a wife and husband and two children. The husband speaks our language and has our papers, as does his son. However, those passports have expired, so they are now receiving the appropriate documents with which they will fly to Sarajevo today. They will land around 3:30 p.m. There were more of them, but due to illness, two elderly people could not be evacuated. That may happen later,” Čolaković explained.
She recalled that this family was in Aleppo, where the situation is the most difficult.
“They kept asking for the possibility of being transferred from Syria because they have family in Bosnia and Herzegovina. They also have certain assets there. In the end, the Embassy took over all of that, sent its people down, they waited for them at the Syrian border – from Aleppo to Turkey, took them over, put them on a plane to Istanbul, from where they will take off today. They are in good condition and are very grateful,” Čolaković pointed out.
Diplomatic officers of the Embassy of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Ankara participated in the evacuation, with the support and instructions of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the assistance of the competent Turkish authorities.
“I would especially like to highlight the cooperation with the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and their services that approve the entry of foreign citizens into their territory and their evacuation. They were very quick to meet our needs when the first check was carried out. We had another similar situation when it was Gaza and when certain Bosnians and Herzegovinans were heading towards Lebanon and Beirut. At that time, the Turkish side informed us that ships were going and that Turkish citizens had priority, and that citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina were in second place,” Čolaković emphasized to AA.
She said that the father of the evacuated BiH citizen from Syria was studying in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He graduated from university in Bosnia and Herzegovina, after which he worked as a doctor. He lived there for ten years, and then they returned to Syria.
“That’s how he obtained the citizenship of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” Čolaković added.
They currently have no information on how many citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina are in Syria and how many want to be evacuated.
