May 26, 2012
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Officials: Turkey unlikely to put age restrictions on its pilgrims
Fears that swine flu could spread during the yearly pilgrimage to Mecca have led Arab officials to decide to restrict travel.
25 July 2009 / TODAY'S ZAMAN WITH WIRES, İSTANBUL
Turkish officials have stated that they do not plan to apply age restrictions on Turks attending hajj -- the pilgrimage to the Islamic holy city of Mecca -- although Arab health ministers agreed on Wednesday to ban the elderly and young children from going on hajj as a precaution against swine flu.
Noting that Turkey has approached the issue cautiously, officials at the Directorate of Religious Affairs and the Health Ministry said: “The decision [made by Arab officials] seems to be reasonable advice against the swine flu virus. However, since we will have all our pilgrims vaccinated against the disease … before they head to Arabia, it may not be necessary to put an age restriction on those performing hajj.”
The World Health Organization's (WHO) spokesman in Egypt, Ibrahim al-Kerdani, told a news agency that some groups -- people over the age of 65, people under the age of 12 and people with chronic illnesses -- would be excluded from hajj, but he noted that the decision has yet to be ratified by Arab governments.
While WHO Eastern Mediterranean Regional Director Hussein Gezairy said the decision is likely to be ratified, the Saudi health minister said the percentages of countries attending would not change and the total number of pilgrims at hajj would not be restricted by Saudi Arabia. Around 3 million Muslim pilgrims from around the world perform hajj each year.
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