Security of British tourists in Turkey discussed at UK cabinet meeting

After the terrorist attack at Istanbul's Atatürk International Airport, which killed 43 people and injured more than 200 on Tuesday evening, members of the British cabinet, including Home Secretary Theresa May and Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond held an emergency meeting to address security concerns of British tourists in Turkey.

In the meeting on Wednesday in London, Jane Marriott, the head of the counter-terrorism unit, gave a presentation about measures Turkish officials took after the attack. Marriott had visited Ankara earlier this week and met with Turkish officials. The British ambassador to Ankara, Richard Moore, also attended the meeting via video conference sources said.

On Monday, Marriott and the director of British Foreign Ministry's Counter-terrorism Unit, Thomas Dodd, visited Parliament and met with Parliament's Internal Affairs Commission head Celalettin Güvenç. During the meeting the senior U.K. officials said: "Turkey is safe to travel as a tourist." Both Marriot and Dodd in their remarks said Britons can "comfortably travel to cities of Turkey except the ones nearby the Syrian border."

Last year more than 2.5 million British tourists visited Turkey, many passing through Atatürk International Airport on their way to beach resorts in the south. Even after the airport terrorist attack, the British Foreign Ministry considers Turkey generally safe to travel to, but has warned its citizens to take additional safety precautions.