Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Marcin Bosacki announced on Monday that, according to information from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, there are several thousand Poles in the broadly understood Middle East region. He appealed to register his stay in the Odyseusz system.
The United States and Israel attacked Iran on Saturday, killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other senior officials. In retaliation, Tehran launched attacks on American bases in the region.
On Monday, in an interview on TVN24, Bosacki was asked whether the ministry had estimates of the exact number of Poles in the Middle and Far East who want to return to the country.
– We do not have any estimates of how many people want to return to the country. We know that in the Middle East region, broadly understood – from the Gulf countries to Israel, Lebanon, Jordan – there are several thousand people – said Bosacki.
He also appealed to register his stay in the Odyseusz system. According to the deputy minister, the number of Poles who want to return to the country will increase – among other things, because some of them will end their stays.
Bosacki informed that the local authorities of the United Arab Emirates – where, as he said, most Poles stay – in agreement with the Polish side, declared that “anyone whose stay in a hotel or holiday resort ends will be able to stay there at the expense of the local authorities.” – We already saw yesterday that we were sent such certificates for hoteliers stating that further stay is at the expense of the authorities of the United Arab Emirates – said the deputy head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Everyone is working non-stop, and “there are thousands of reports”
Bosacki was also asked whether, in the ministry's opinion, some Polish missions in the Middle East “were not up to the task”, which allegedly concerned difficulties in establishing contact with consuls. The deputy minister denied such an assessment. In his opinion, the problems resulted from the fact that “suddenly thousands of people are trying to contact consuls, of which there are a dozen in total in the Gulf countries.” – I want to make it clear that all of them (consuls – PAP) have been working non-stop since Saturday, from the early morning hours until today – emphasized Bosacki.
The deputy head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also emphasized that if the transfer point of a given airline is closed, these airlines “are obliged to look for other routes”, and these – as he added – exist, for example through Egypt or Turkey.
When asked whether Egypt is currently a destination advised against by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bosacki emphasized that there is currently no threat in this country, but due to the situation, he recommended “extreme caution” and assessed flying there at the moment as “not entirely prudent.”
– There is no danger there at the moment, but I am talking about the physical danger of drone or missile attacks – said Bosacki. – However, due to all this confusion and the intensity of those who want to fly from Israel via Egypt, for example, it is certainly not entirely prudent to fly there at the moment, because there may be problems with the volume of air traffic and back. We would also recommend extreme caution, but, as I say, there is no physical threat at the moment, he noted.
Flight cancellations, hotline and the Odyseusz system
Due to the situation in the Middle East, countries in that region are closing their airspace. There are significant disruptions to air traffic. Many carriers canceled flights in the region, including LOT Polish Airlines, which decided to suspend connections to Tel Aviv (Israel) until March 15 inclusive and to Dubai (United Arab Emirates) and Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) until March 2.
At the same time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs launched an additional hotline for Poles stuck in the Middle East. Number: +48 22 523 88 80 is open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Polish time. The support is intended to provide access to up-to-date information.
Maciej Wewiór, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, announced on Saturday that five people in Iran, 40 in Lebanon and over 200 in Israel are registered in the Odyseusz system. He emphasized that among them there are those who stay in these countries for a long time. On Sunday, he said that there was an increase in the number of registrations in the system, but assured that there was no information about injured Polish citizens in the Middle East region.
The ministry warned against travel to Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Palestine. It advises Poles staying there to follow the announcements of local authorities and, if necessary, contact Polish consulates.
On Sunday afternoon, the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Doha (Qatar) informed that the Consular Section of the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Doha will remain closed to the public until further notice due to the security situation and the recommendations of the Qatari authorities to stay in safe places.
The Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasized over the weekend that ensuring the safety of Polish citizens staying in this region remains a priority. (PAP)
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