Emel Adra, the fourth generation granddaughter of Ottoman Sultan Abdülhamid II, who resides in Lebanon, thanked Turkey and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for the support she has been given as she recovered from COVID-19.

The Foreign Ministry had switched Adra’s hospital after she was receiving treatment for COVID-19 in Beirut. Minister Çavuşoğlu called Ambassador Hakan Çakıl in Beirut and instructed him to do whatever was necessary for Adra’s treatment and also informed President Erdoğan about her condition, the Demirören News Agency (DHA) reported.

After three weeks at the hospital, Adra temporarily lost sensation in her right hand and wrote a letter to Erdoğan as soon as she was able to.

"I am grateful for your support during this period [of my treatment]. We feel honored to feel your and the state’s interest even though we live in distant lands," Adra said in her letter to President Erdoğan.

She continued by thanking the president, Foreign Minister Çavuşoğlu, Deputy Foreign Minister Yavuz Selim Kıran, Ambassador Hakan Çakıl, Consul-General Didem Büyükarsland and the ambassador’s secretary Joyce Haddad for their support and assistance.

Adra also noted that her letter was delayed due to her loss of sensation in her right hand.

The Ottoman dynasty’s descendants were forced to scatter around the world after the collapse of the empire and they were sent into exile starting from 1924.

In 1952, female members of the dynasty were granted amnesty and the men were allowed to return to Turkey in 1974. Yet, few returned to Turkey as most of them had already built new lives after living abroad for decades.