NATIONAL Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, for the evacuation of Turkish citizens from Sudan, where conflicts took place, with military planes, said, “One of our C-130 type planes landed at Wadi Sayidna Airport. During the landing of our second plane, light weapons were fired. Despite this, our plane landed safely. “We do not have any injuries or personnel casualties. Our team is investigating the damage to the aircraft,” he said.
Minister of National Defense Hulusi Akar answered the questions of journalists about the shooting at a plane belonging to the Turkish Armed Forces during the evacuation of Turkish citizens from Sudan in Yahyalı district of Kayseri, where he went as part of the election campaign. Noting that after the clashes between groups in Sudan, efforts continue in coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the safe evacuation of Turkish citizens there, Akar said, “As part of the planning for the evacuation of our citizens, one of our C-130 aircraft landed at Wadi Sayidna Airport in the north of Khartoum. “There was a small gunfire during its landing. Despite this, our plane landed safely. There are no casualties or personnel casualties. Our team is investigating the damage to the plane. According to the situation, according to the report of the teams, we will make our decision to provide additional logistic support,” he said.
Akar, who also gave information about the planes going to the city of Port Sudan, said, “One of our planes returned by taking our citizens from there. Our other A400M plane continues its activities for the evacuation of our citizens there. Hopefully, it will leave there without accident,” he said. Emphasizing that they follow the developments closely. Akar said, “Our aim is the safe evacuation of our citizens to our country without any accident and trouble. We continue our work on this issue with the relevant units, and they continue their talks with the military and civilian people there. Our work continues for the safe evacuation of our planes and our citizens. We follow the process closely,” Akar said. ‘WE DON’T CONSIDER A MAJOR DAMAGE’
On the question of whether the damage to the plane was large or not, Akar said, “We do not evaluate that there is a major damage according to the initial information. We are evaluating that we can repair it there by the teams we will send from here. The exact situation will be clarified with the report.”