Ankara condemns harassment of Turkish Airlines passengers

ANKARA

The Turkish Foreign Ministry condemned late on Oct. 19 the apparent harassment of Turkish Airlines passengers who were subjected to body searches by police dogs at Vienna International Airport.

“The Turkish Embassy in Vienna drew attention to the inconvenient control of people in the footage and demanded that the Austrian authorities, particularly customs officers, be warned,” the ministry said in a written statement.

The statement added that the Austrian authorities have promised to “act responsibly” in such incidents in the future.

The Turkish Embassy in Vienna had on Oct. 18 also issued a statement on its official Facebook account regarding the incident.

It said it had started an immediate investigation at Vienna’s Schwechat Airport on Oct. 17 after footage of the incident, which occurred on Oct. 13, was posted on social media.