Starting Tuesday, Slovakia will begin evacuating its citizens from the Middle East. The announcement was made on Monday by Slovak Interior Minister Matej Šutaj Eštok. This is yet another example of a European Union government taking steps to secure the safety of its nationals. The same cannot be said about the authorities in Poland.
On Sunday, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš also announced the evacuation of Czech citizens from the region. The decision was made to dispatch four aircraft to Oman — three to Muscat and one to Salalah.
Many Polish citizens also remain in the Middle East. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has offered a second hotline as a form of “assistance,” operating during designated hours. However, no evacuation flights have been planned. When asked about the actions taken by the authorities in Prague, Polish government spokesperson Adam Szłapka suggested that such reports might be fake news.
“These kinds of reports need to be verified. There are many places that cannot currently be reached by air. A lot of information is circulating in the public space about individual countries sending aircraft, and some of it is fake. I have heard about such cases as well. The Foreign Ministry spokesperson told me that we must be very cautious about these fake reports,” Szłapka said on Radio Zet.
Slovakia’s Actions
Meanwhile, it has emerged that another EU country is taking care of its citizens. Slovakia will begin evacuation flights on Tuesday. The first aircraft carrying Slovak nationals will depart from Bratislava on Tuesday morning to Amman, Jordan. On Wednesday, a Slovak government plane will fly again to Amman, and on Thursday it will head to Muscat, Oman.
“The aviation unit remains on constant standby and is prepared to respond immediately depending on developments in the region’s security situation,” the minister stated. According to Prime Minister Robert Fico, additional aircraft may be sent to the Middle East if Slovak citizens express interest in evacuation.
Speaker of Parliament Richard Raši told the TASR news agency that more than 2,500 Slovak citizens are currently in Dubai. Several dozen are in Qatar and Bahrain, and many Slovaks are also in Oman.
“Some of them will certainly return on their own once the skies are reopened to flights, but some will face difficulties because they are stranded there — and those people should be repatriated by the state,” he added.