The 11 Turkish soldiers martyred by a helicopter crash were honored by a military funeral service on Friday.

 

Besides the martyred soldiers, including one corps commander, two other soldiers were also injured when a military helicopter crashed in the eastern Bitlis province on Thursday.

 

Contact with the Cougar-type military helicopter, which took off from Bingol for Tatvan district of Bitlis at 1.55 p.m. local time (1055GMT), was lost at 2.25 p.m. (1125GMT).

 

The military funeral was held in the eastern Elazig province for 8th Corps Commander Lt. Gen. Osman Erbas, Technical Sgt. Nazmi Yilmaz, Col. Senturk Aydinyer, Lt. Salih Sarioglu, Chief Master Sgt. Mehmet Demir, Master Sgt. Omer Umulu, Lt. Cpts. Tayfun Kures and Gokhan Uysal, Staff Sgt. Sukru Karadirek, and Specialized Sgts. Tolga Demirci and Hakan Gul.

 

The service was attended by National Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, Chief of General Staff Gen. Yasar Guler, Deputy Interior Minister Ismail Catakli, Elazig Governor Erkaya Yirik, Bingol Governor Kadir Ekinci, other commanders, families of the martyrs, and other officials.

 

Following the funeral, the bodies of the martyrs were sent to the capital Ankara for a state ceremony, which is set to be attended by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

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