UPDATE - Evacuated from Sudan amid clashes, Turkish citizens begin to return home

UPDATES NUMBER OF EVACUEES; REVISES LEDE, DECK

By Gokhan Yilmaz and Faruk Zorlu

ISTANBUL (AA) - Nearly 500 Turkish citizens who were evacuated from Sudan via Ethiopia arrived in Istanbul on Wednesday as the fighting between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary forces entered the second week.

The first plane, which took off from Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa with 189 passengers on board, landed at Istanbul Airport at 1.10 a.m. local time (2210GMT), while later, the second plane arrived in Istanbul with 305 passengers, according to Turkish diplomatic sources.

Also, 203 citizens are on the way to Türkiye and there are currently no citizens waiting to be evacuated from Addis Ababa Airport, while the number of Turkish citizens on the way to Addis Ababa from Sudan is 738, they added.

The total number of Turkish citizens evacuated from Sudan currently stands at 684, the diplomatic sources said.

Naci Akgun, an evacuee from the first plane, said he was running a furniture business in Sudan, and when the fighting broke out, he had to leave everything behind and return to Türkiye.

He expressed his appreciation to the Turkish officials for their efforts to evacuate them from Sudan.

"Conditions were harsh. All countries wanted to evacuate their citizens at the same time. … We are the first convoy to return to Türkiye. We are very happy. We thank the Turkish embassies in Sudan and Ethiopia."

About the evacuation process, Akgun said they reached the Ethiopian border in 12 hours and were transported to the nearest airport in the morning and later took a flight to Addis Ababa airport.

Over 1,600 Turkish citizens were transported to Ethiopia from Sudan by bus, Turkish diplomatic sources said Tuesday.

Ankara's efforts to evacuate Turkish citizens in Sudan to Türkiye via Ethiopia continue, said the sources.

They added that the Turkish citizens were the first to be transferred from the Sudanese-Ethiopian border to the airport in the border city of Gondar with vehicles provided by the Turkish Embassy in Addis Ababa.

They then fly to Addis Ababa by planes leased from Ethiopian Airlines and are being brought to Türkiye via the Addis Ababa-Istanbul route, according to sources.

Akgun said the conflicts are still ongoing in Sudan. "Street fighting continues. May Allah help the Sudanese people. Our Sudanese brothers are good people. Sudan is a beautiful country. Hopefully, this shall pass and we will return (to Sudan)," he added.

Mehmet Kazan, another evacuee, said: "We come from Khartoum, from war. Thanks to our ambassadors and everyone who helped us. We thank our President Recep Tayyip Erdogan very much. God bless everyone. We arrived (in Türkiye) safely."

He also mentioned the difficulties of surviving in a war zone and the evacuation process.

"We came out of the war. We kept ourselves safe by staying at home. Those were the days which were very challenging, we really lived the war. Our evacuation process was a bit difficult, but thankfully it went well."

On April 15, fighting erupted between the Sudanese army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in Khartoum and its surroundings.

A disagreement had been fomenting in recent months between the army and the paramilitaries over military security reform. The reform envisages full RSF participation in the military, one of the main issues in negotiations by international and regional parties for a transition to civilian, democratic rule in Sudan.

At least 460 people have been killed and over 4,000 others injured in clashes between the Sudanese army and RSF forces since April 15, according to the Health Ministry.