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Planes from Port Sudan bring more Turkish citizens to Istanbul

More than 170 people, some of them foreign nationals, land in Istanbul as part of Ankara's massive evacuation plan amidst fighting in Sudan.

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The A400M evacuation plane belonging to the MSB, which departed from Port Sudan in the evening and landed at Istanbul Airport at 02:30 am [local time]. / Photo: AA

Türkiye has evacuated more citizens from conflict-torn Sudan, with two planes carrying over 170 people from the African country arriving in Istanbul in the wee hours.

The evacuations, continuing on Friday, are part of a massive effort by Ankara to bring Turkish civilians and others back to safety. The planes are just two of many in this evacuation mission.

TRT World's Aksel Zaimovic, who spoke with some of the evacuees at the Istanbul Airport, said they were airlifted from eastern Port Sudan after making a gruelling land journey from Sudanese capital Khartoum and other areas amidst fighting between the armies of two rival generals.

On Thursday, Türkiye deployed five military transport planes, including two A400M aircraft, to evacuate its remaining citizens from Sudan, the country's defence minister said.

Speaking at an event in central Kayseri province, Hulusi Akar said, "We have assigned five of our aircraft for the evacuation of our remaining citizens to Türkiye. Necessary planning and coordination have been done so that these aircraft can carry out their duties safely. We follow the process closely."

Highlighting the risky situation caused by the conflict, Akar said, "Due to these situations, we made a plan with our Foreign Ministry for the evacuation of our citizens living in Sudan and started to implement it. Some of our citizens were evacuated through Ethiopia."

TRT World's Aksel Zaimovic has spoken with some of the passengers who were airlifted from eastern Port Sudan to Türkiye's Istanbul city after a gruelling journey from Sudanese capital Khartoum and other areas pic.twitter.com/oniM2puLoA
— TRT World Now (@TRTWorldNow) April 28, 2023

Deadly conflict

Sudan has been in the grip of a deadly power struggle between two rival generals, which has thrown the country into chaos.

Abdel Fattah al Burhan of the army and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo of the Rapid Support Forces [RSF] have ruled the country as leader and deputy since 2021.

Before that, both men were instrumental in the deposition of longtime leader Omar al Bashir in 2019.

They were part of a civilian-military transitional council after Bashir that they dissolved later.

Both are vying for greater control and since April 15 fighting between their armed forces have left at least 512 people dead and 4,193 wounded, according to official figures, although the real toll is likely to be much higher.

Dozens of nations have been evacuating their nationals while the shaky truce holds.