ADDS STATEMENT FROM TURKISH NATIONAL DEFENSE MINISTRY; CHANGES HEADLINE, LEDE
By Sarp Ozer
KAYSERI, Ankara (AA) - Two military airplanes on a mission to evacuate Turkish citizens from Sudan left safely, Türkiye's national defense minister said Friday.
“Two of our C-130 aircraft in this country that went to Sudan to evacuate our citizens, including the one that was harassed with gun fires from light arms, left Sudan safely,” the ministry wrote on Twitter.
Hulusi Akar told reporters earlier in Kayseri province that “as part of plans to evacuate our citizens, one of our C-130 aircraft landed at Wadi Seidna Airport, north of Khartoum. There was gunfire from light arms during the landing of our second plane. Despite this, our plane landed safely,"
There were no casualties, he stressed.
Akar said a Turkish team inspected the damage to the plane. "According to a preliminary assessment, we do not believe there is major damage. We believe we can repair it by teams we send from here. The exact situation will be clarified with an upcoming report," he said.
Türkiye deployed five military transport planes Thursday, including two A400M aircraft, to evacuate its remaining citizens from conflict-torn Sudan.
Earlier Friday, the Turkish National Defense Ministry announced that a Turkish C-130 evacuation plane headed to Wadi Seidna Air Base for evacuation came under small arms fire.
Meanwhile, the first group of Turkish citizens was safely brought to Türkiye by planes belonging to the Turkish Armed Forces early Friday.
- Port of Sudan
On evacuation efforts from the Port of Sudan, Akar said: "One of our planes got our citizens back from there. Our other A400M aircraft continues working for the evacuation of our citizens there. Hopefully it will leave there safely."
Evacuation efforts will continue until all Turkish citizens are transported out of Sudan, he said: "We’re following the process closely."
The Turkish National Defense Ministry said Friday that 101 Turkish citizens were safely transported to the country with A400M aircraft.
"Thus, the Port Sudan part of the evacuation operation was completed," it said in a statement.
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu announced that Türkiye evacuated 1,834 people, 249 of whom are citizens of 19 different countries, from Sudan.
A cease-fire that took effect midnight Tuesday was the latest attempt to stop the fighting in Sudan that erupted April 15.
At least 460 people have been killed and more than 4,000 injured in clashes between the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group since the conflict began, according to the Sudanese Health Ministry.
A disagreement had been fomenting in recent months between the army and paramilitaries concerning military security reform.
The reform envisages full RSF participation in the military -- one of the main issues in negotiations with international and regional parties for a transition to civilian, democratic rule.
* Writing by Diyar Guldogan and Busra Nur Cakmak with contributions