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Situation in Turkey "rather calm" — Russian consul general

Russian Consul General in Istanbul Andrey Podyolyshev considers the situation unusual, but not very tense

MOSCOW, July 18. /TASS/. The situation in Istanbul is relatively calm, the state of emergency was not officially announced, Russian Consul General in Istanbul Andrey Podyolyshev told TASS on Monday.

"In general, the situation is, of course, unusual. But we cannot say that it is very tense. It is rather calm," Podyolyshev said.

He confirmed that "up to 1,800 special forces were deployed in Istanbul to guard the facilities representing the biggest importance for the state."

"There are no restrictions on moving around the city. Regarding the reports by our (Russian media) about the alleged state of emergency, official authorities have not notified us about this yet, so there is no official information on this matter," he noted.

Situation at Istanbul’s airports returning to normal

According to the diplomat, the situation at Istanbul’s airports continues stabilizing, as Russians steadily leave Turkey.

"Conditions at Istanbul’s two airports are close to normal," he said. "Some flights have been delayed but, in general, the situation at the airports remains rather stable, with planes taking off on or close to schedule."

"By now, Russians who cannot get to the flights that they have tickets to are not asking assistance from the consulate," he said.

"As a result, we have concluded that the situation is normalizing," Podyelyshev added. "Compared with the first day, when we had up to a thousand of calls, now we have one call roughly every hour, so the situation in general is stabilizing.".

A group of insurgents attempted a coup in Turkey overnight to Saturday. Bombs were dropped on the parliament building and the presidential palace in Ankara. The country’s leadership later said that the coup was quashed. Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said that the situation is under the control of the official government.

According to latest reports, 290 people died and 1,491 more were injured. Over 6,000 people were arrested after a failed coup attempt.