The remains of the Libyan chief of staff and his advisers, who were killed in a plane crash near the Turkish capital Ankara, were repatriated, the Turkish Defense Ministry announced on Dec. 27.
The Tripoli government's General Mohamed Al-Haddad, four of his advisers and three crew members died when the Falcon 50 jet they were travelling on crashed less than 40 minutes after take-off on Dec. 23.
Turkish Defense Minister Yaşar Güler presided over a short ceremony at the Mürted air base near Ankara, the ministry said on X.
The bodies arrived at Tripoli International Airport in caskets draped with Libyan flags and were carried in a funeral procession with soldiers holding their photographs.
Turkish military chief Gen. Selçuk Bayraktaroğlu also accompanied the bodies on the plane to Libya.
The plane's black box was found on farmland near the crash site. Turkish authorities have said the plane had an electrical failure but added that the investigation into the cause of the crash will be conducted by a "neutral country.”
The U.K. has been designated as the country where the aircraft’s black box will undergo technical analysis, Turkish media reported.
The decision came after Germany — previously considered for the task — announced that it would be unable to carry out the examination due to insufficient technical capacity.
Representatives from Libya’s Interior and Transport ministries were also briefed in Ankara. Turkish officials provided a detailed account of every development from the aircraft’s entry into Turkish airspace up to the moment radar contact was lost.
Recovery work at the crash site was completed on Dec. 27, according to the media.
The two rival camps in Libya, the government of national unity based in Tripoli and the government in Benghazi in the east, controlled by Marshal Khalifa Haftar, have declared three days of national mourning in a rare show of unity.
Since the fall of Moammar Gadhafi in 2011, Libya has struggled to regain stability with two rival executives vying for power.
Türkiye is a supporter of the Tripoli-based government but has sought in recent years to improve ties with Haftar.
