UPDATE 2 - Türkiye evacuates over 1,830 people from Sudan: Foreign minister

UPDATES WITH MORE REMARKS FROM TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTER

By Diyar Guldogan and Busra Nur Cakmak

ANKARA (AA) - Türkiye evacuated a total of 1,834 people, 249 of whom are citizens of 19 different countries, from conflict-torn Sudan, the Turkish foreign minister said on Friday.

"We are in contact with each of our citizens who want to return," Mevlut Cavusoglu told TRT Haber.

According to Turkish diplomatic sources, Cavusoglu also spoke over the phone with Mohammed Hamdan Dagalu, the commander of Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), and discussed the evacuation of Turkish citizens.

Türkiye on Thursday deployed five military transport planes, including two A400M aircraft, to evacuate its remaining citizens from Sudan.

Earlier Friday, the Turkish National Defense Ministry announced that a Turkish C-130 evacuation plane, which was headed to Wadi Seidna Air Base for the evacuation, came under small arms fire.

Regarding efforts to end the conflict in Sudan, Cavusoglu said: "Our deputy minister (Burak Akcapar) will go to Sudan for mediation next week."

A cease-fire that came into force at Tuesday midnight was the latest attempt to stop the fighting in Sudan that first erupted on April 15.

At least 460 people have been killed and more than 4,000 injured in clashes between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) 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.


- Quadrilateral meeting on Syria

Recalling that the intelligence chiefs of Türkiye, Russia, Iran and the Syrian regime met three times and defense ministers twice, Cavusolgu said that a meeting was also held at the level of deputy foreign ministers and now the next meeting will take place at the level of foreign ministers.

“For this, we received some offers from Russia for the first 10 days of May. We looked at those dates, it suits us,” he added.

Noting that the meeting will be held in Moscow and that Russia will return on the date after discussing with Iran and the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria, Cavusoglu said: "It is highly likely that a meeting at the level of the foreign ministers will be held within the first 10 days of May."

Cavusoglu said that Türkiye entered this engagement because of the blockage in the political process.

He said that the way to overcome this blockage is to lead the country to elections within the framework of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2254 or to negotiate a road map with the regime and the opposition, otherwise lasting stability and peace cannot be achieved.

Regarding the fight against terrorism, Cavusoglu pointed out that "it is essential" to fight together against the YPG/PKK terrorist group, adding that Russia and Iran should also "unconditionally support" the fight.

Cavusoglu said that if Turkish soldiers withdraw from the safe zones in Syria, the YPG/PKK terror group could fill this gap and increase terrorist attacks and infiltration attempts against Türkiye.

“As long as there is no agreement on the political process in the country and a road map that will unite the country, there would be a blood bath as soon as we withdraw. The civil war will continue. When these conflicts continue, many refugees will come to our door. This has many risks,” he said.