Their families had asked the government for repatriation assistance after being trapped in Spain as a result of the Calima storm that affected more than 800 flights in the Canary Islands.
A group of Turkish Erasmus students studying in the Canary Islands were finally able to return to their country on Monday night, after the Spanish islands were scourged for several days in a strong Calima storm due to winds loaded with sand coming from the Sahara desert, which forced to cancel numerous flights on the islands.
The families of the students had asked for help from the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs through social media, after the cancellation of flights to the islands had left them trapped at the Adolfo Suarez-Barajas International Airport in Madrid.
Finally, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu confirmed late Monday that after a series of efforts by the government, the students would return to Turkey on a flight that had departed at ten o’clock (local time) from Madrid. “We have done our duty. They are back,” wrote Çavuşoğlu. Their plane landed in Istanbul on Tuesday at dawn .
Although most of the airports in the Canary Islands have resumed their activity, they are still recovering from the effects of the Calima storm coming from North Africa. In Gran Canaria alone it is estimated that it affected more than 800 flights and between 12,000 and 14,000 passengers: there, about 4,000 people had to spend the night sleeping at the airport because there were not enough hotels for all those affected.
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Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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