AA / Istanbul
Turkish Airlines (THY) resumed its flights to Syria this Thursday with an Istanbul-Damascus flight, after a suspension due to internal unrest in the country on April 1, 2012.
The first scheduled flight in 13 years to Damascus, the Syrian capital, was carried out by a wide-body plane with the flight code “TK 846”, departing from Istanbul airport.
In the morning, some passengers arriving at Istanbul airport showed their joy in front of the boarding gate.
Many Syrians expressed their happiness at returning, after years of absence, to a country they had been forced to leave. Some passengers carried the flag of the Syrian revolution.
A total of 349 passengers boarded for Damascus International Airport after ticket and passport checks.
Fatma Zehra, one of the passengers, told the press that she arrived in Türkiye at the age of 2 and was very happy to return to the land where she was born with her family.
Zehra, who said she is currently 14 years old, said: “I have never seen my country. This is the first time, and I am very excited. We are going from Damascus to Aleppo, where I will see my grandmother “.
-– “I feel like I’m in a dream”
Another passenger, Ahmet Kiraz, explained that he arrived in Türkiye in 2012, where he studied and worked to build a new life.
Stressing that he did not expect such a moment, he added: “At the time, we thought there was no hope of returning to our family. Then, suddenly, things changed , and this makes us very happy. Today I return to my country with this first flight, and I record every moment I feel like in a dream. God bless everyone in Türkiye who helped us.
The Turkish Airlines plane, which departed from Istanbul Airport at 9:00 a.m., is scheduled to land at Damascus International Airport after a flight of approximately two hours.
*Translated from Turkish by Adama Bamba
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