Turkey pays respects to soldiers killed in Kabul

Turkey bid farewell yesterday to the 12 soldiers killed in a helicopter crash in Kabul last week as the country's top political and military leaders joined thousands of mourners in Ankara to honour the dead. A military ceremony was held at the soldiers' garrison in Mamak, followed by funeral prayers at Kocatepe Mosque for five of the troops who were laid to rest in Ankara. The bodies of the other seven soldiers were flown to their hometowns for burial. The military ceremony at the Peace-Keeping Brigade Command was attended by President Abdullah Gul, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Chief of General Staff Gen. Necdet Ozel, main opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu as well as a number of ministers, politicians and senior army commanders. Speaking at the ceremony, Brigadier General Mehmet Karadayı said the soldiers' deaths were a reminder of the major contributions that Turkish forces were making to stability across the world, from Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo to Lebanon and Afghanistan. "Our martyrs gave their lives for their mission of contributing to world peace," he said. The bodies of the five Ankara natives -Maj. Mithat Colak, Capt. Ilker Aydin, Capt. Adil Erdogan, Lt. Tahsin Barutcu and Sgt. Maj. Salih Helvaci- were then taken to Kocatepe Mosque for funeral prayers, which were joined by the same coterie of civilian and military leaders. Thousands of people packed the mosque court to honour the soldiers as the head of the Religious Affairs Directorate, Mehmet Gormez, led the prayers. "The martyrs had no other aim but to bring peace and humanitarian aid to our Afghan brothers. They gave their lives for this purpose," Gormez said.