Turkish citizens begin to return home from Sudan

ISTANBUL (AA) – Nearly 200 Turkish citizens who were evacuated from Sudan via Ethiopia have arrived in Istanbul.

A Turkish Airlines 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 on Wednesday.

Naci Akgun, an evacuee, 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.

“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.

“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),” Akgun said.