According to the statement, the ministry has studied the issue at the request of Russia's RIA Novosti news agency. The ministry said its representatives in Antalya had conducted an investigation and detected cases of skin rash among seven Ukrainian tourists.
"Our ministry believes that such cases can occur in any country. According to the results of our investigation, there can be no talk of any epidemic. We estimate the spread of news about it in Russian social networks and media as speculative, and we want to reassure you through RIA Novosti that Russian tourists can safely go to Turkey on vacation," the statement said.
Media have reported that the number of tourists infected with Coxsackievirus (an enterovirus infection) is growing in Turkey, with dozens of tourists allegedly forced to interrupt their vacation ahead of schedule.
Turkey faced a decrease in the number of tourists coming to its resort destinations in 2016 after the Russian government imposed ban on charter flights to Turkey and selling tour packages to the country over the downing of a Russian military aircraft by a Turkish jet in November 2015.
The situation started to change in June, 2016, when Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wrote a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin in which he apologized for the downing of the Russian Su-24 attack aircraft over Syria and extended his condolences to the family of the pilot killed in the incident.
