Türkiye on Thursday vowed to provide continued aid as Israeli airstrikes worsen the humanitarian crises in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, where Türkiye has also begun evacuations.
“Our country will continue to extend a helping hand to the peoples of the region in the face of the humanitarian crisis created by the war Israel has spread,” Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on X.
Fidan announced that Turkish naval ships have successfully evacuated the country’s nationals from Lebanon and delivered aid to the “brotherly Lebanese people.”
He assured Ankara that he would continue taking all necessary steps to protect its citizens abroad.
A total of 966 people from Lebanon, including 878 Turkish nationals, 24 citizens of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), and 64 of their immediate relatives are on board the TCG Bayraktar amphibious landing vessel and the TCG Sancaktar headed for the southern Port of Mersin. The fleet is escorted by two frigates and two patrol boats.
Foreign Ministry sources said on Thursday that 1,900 Turkish citizens in Lebanon have requested their evacuation so far.
They noted that 2,500 people had initially applied to the Foreign Ministry for evacuation but only 1,000 people reached the gathering points, with some deciding not to board the ships at the last moment.
Besides the Turkish citizens, people from Bulgaria, Romania and Kazakhstan were among those who applied to evacuate on the ships.
The National Defense Ministry separately said ships and aircraft were ready for further evacuations from Lebanon, with plans coordinated with other ministries and state institutions.
Zehra Cibbin, an ethnic Arab from the southeastern Turkish city of Mardin who lives in Beirut with her Lebanese husband, got off a bus packed with the other evacuees, her two children in tow and luggage in hand.
“It’s indescribable. They bombed the street below our house. From that moment on, it was over for me; I said I didn’t want to stay in Beirut anymore,” said Cibbin, 46.
Cibbin said they decided to leave Beirut out of fear for their lives, putting no thought into what would happen when they arrived in Türkiye.
“Israel’s aggression has severely impacted Lebanon and our brothers here,” said Turkish Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Barış Ulusoy, standing in front of the Bayraktar.
We are carrying out an operation today with two aims: to provide humanitarian aid to our Lebanese brothers and to ensure the safe return of our citizens who are in a difficult situation.” Ulusoy said.
Hundreds lined up before the Bayraktar as Turkish soldiers and sailors checked the evacuees’ passports and their luggage was examined by metal detectors and drug-sniffing dogs before they were allowed to board.
Another Turkish citizen waiting with her family was Abir Gökçimen, who said she left her extended family and husband in Beirut and hoped the war that spread to Lebanon would end soon. She hopes to come back to Lebanon as soon as the danger passes.
The journey back to Mersin is expected to take about 10 hours.
Türkiye’s government plans to organize more sea evacuations if necessary and is contemplating charter flights to repatriate citizens.
Israel since Sept. 23 has mounted massive airstrikes across Lebanon against what it claims are Hezbollah targets, killing more than 1,323 people and injuring nearly 3,700.
The aerial campaign is an escalation of the year-long cross-border warfare between Israel and Hezbollah since the start of Tel Aviv’s brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip that has killed over 42,000 people, most of them women and children, since a Hamas attack last year.
Despite international warnings that the Middle East region was on the brink of a regional war amid Israel’s relentless attacks on Gaza and Lebanon, Tel Aviv expanded the conflict by launching a ground invasion into southern Lebanon on Oct. 1.
The operation, involving the ships TCG Bayraktar and TCG Sancaktar, comes as Lebanon faces massive Israeli airstrikes against what Tel Aviv claims are Hezbollah targets since Sept. 23. The strikes have killed at least 1,323 people, injuring over 3,700 others, and displacing more than 1.2 million people.
