Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said Turkey has evacuated over 14,800 citizens from Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion and expects to evacuate more citizens from Mariupol Tuesday or Wednesday amid frequent discussions with Russian and Ukrainian authorities.
Speaking at a joint news conference with his counterpart from Ivory Coast, Kandia Camara, in the capital Ankara, Çavuşoğlu said some 300-350 Turkish citizens remain in the region.
He noted that the figures can vary from day to day.
"We'll continue and intensify our efforts to evacuate not only our citizens but also other civilians from the region," he said.
Two buses will depart the city of Lviv, one of which will carry Crimean Tatars, and another bus will also leave the southwestern port city of Odessa Tuesday for evacuation, he said.
He noted that he spoke with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov Monday night and discussed the situation and also met with a team from the Ukrainian negotiation delegation earlier on Tuesday to ensure a permanent cease-fire in Ukraine.
Earlier, Çavuşoğlu said on Twitter that the latest group of citizens departed from Kyiv, Lviv, Chernivtsi, Kharkiv, Poltava, Bila Tserkva and Konotop. He noted while 130 people were evacuated from Bila Tserkva, Lviv and Chernivtsi by train, and 42 people were evacuated from Kharkiv, Poltava and Konotop by buses and minibuses.
"The number of our citizens we evacuated has reached 14,824. I wish you a safe journey," Çavuşoğlu said
Meanwhile, a group of Meskhetian Turks evacuated from Ukraine settled in Erzincan.
Meskhetian Turks, most of whom are Turkish citizens, were brought from Ukraine in groups in 2015 and settled in the Üzümlü district of Erzincan, upon the instruction of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and some of them returned to Ukraine afterward. After the Russian invasion began, they returned to their homes in the Üzümlü district of the eastern province of Erzincan after a five-day journey organized by the Foreign Ministry. The Meskhetian Turks were welcomed by their relatives.
Ruslan Kaya, talking about the current situation in Ukraine, said, "I am grateful to our state (Turkey) for arranging the evacuation."
This moving and relocation reflect the reality of life for Meskhetian Turks. In 1944, they were expelled from their homeland – the Meskheti region of Georgia – by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin in an attempt to remove Turks from the shores of the Black Sea. They faced discrimination and human rights abuses before and after deportation. During that period, they migrated mainly to three countries: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. However, some experienced another migration in 1989 when ethnic clashes started in Uzbekistan, and they traveled to eastern Ukraine in 1990. Some of them have seen three deportations in their lives while the others have endured two separations.
Turkey, Russia coordinate Mariupol evacuations
Turkey has been coordinating Mariupol evacuation efforts with the Russian Defense Ministry, sources from the Turkish Defense Ministry said Tuesday.
Noting that Russia has cleared the mines laid on the roads after work and coordination efforts with Turkey, sources said work is also ongoing to open humanitarian corridors and the entrance of buses and trucks in the Ukrainian city.
"We expect the evacuation of our citizens from Mariupol as soon as possible, depending on the Russian Defense Ministry’s evaluation of the security situation," sources said.
Speaking about evacuations from Mariupol, Çavuşoğlu said two buses will depart from Lviv and one bus from Odessa. "Lavrov called me at midnight, we are waiting for evacuations from Mariupol," he added.
A rocket fell on Friday around 700 meters (2,297 feet) away from a mosque that currently houses 30 Turkish nationals.
Along with those in the mosque, there are 86 Turkish nationals in the city waiting to be evacuated.
Russian troops put a blockade on the strategic Ukrainian port city Mariupol, the mayor announced Saturday.
Capturing Mariupol, a city of about 450,000 people on the Azov Sea, would represent a big prize for Russian forces as it would deal a severe blow to Ukraine's maritime access and connect troops coming from annexed Crimea and the Donbass.
Since Russia launched its war on Ukraine on Feb. 24, more than 2.5 million people have fled to other countries, with some 2 million more displaced within the country.
At least 564 civilians have also been killed and 982 others injured in Ukraine, according to U.N. estimates.
While the European Union, the United States and others have imposed sanctions on Moscow, many companies and global brands have also suspended operations in Russia.