SIRNAK, Turkey

A ceremony was held Thursday for seven of the 13 soldiers martyred in a helicopter crash in southeast Turkey.

Defense Minister Fikri Isik, Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek, and Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu were among the mourners at the 23rd Gendarmerie Border Division Command in the city of Sirnak.

Chief of General Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar and the heads of the army, navy and air force -- Gen. Salih Zeki Colak, Adm. Bulent Bostanoglu and Gen. Abidin Unal -- also attended the ceremony.

The bodies of the seven -- Staff Col. Gokhan Peker, Lt. Col. Songul Yakut, Maj. Koray Onay, Capt. Nuri Sener, Capt. Serhat Signak, Sgt. Maj. Mehmet Erdogan and Spc. Sgt. Zeki Koc -- are to be returned to their hometowns.

The remains of the six other casualties, including Maj. Gen. Aydogan Aydin, have been transferred to the capital Ankara for autopsies.

The crash happened late Wednesday when a AS532 Cougar helicopter hit power lines shortly after takeoff from a base at Senoba in the Uludere district of Sirnak province.

It was the third accident involving a Cougar helicopter in the last 20 years. A total of 15 soldiers were martyred in 1997 and 2003 crashes. The multipurpose helicopter has been used by the Turkish military for 21 years.

Yakut first woman Turkish Gendarmerie district commander

Gendarmerie Lt. Col Songul Yakut was the first woman in the history of the Turkish Gendarmerie to be named a district commander.

Born in 1976, Yakut was accepted into the Turkish Military Academy but instead chose to attend the Gendarmerie Schools Command. Yakut graduated in 1997 and was assigned as a training commander at the school.

Yakut was later assigned to Sirnak for two years, where she served as a commissioned officer in the Psychological Operations Squadron. She was then named commander of the Ankara-Beypazari District Gendarmerie, the first woman in Turkish Gendarmerie history to hold such a post.

After being dismissed over suspicions of FETO links, Yakut successfully fought in the legal system to clear her name. Her second posting to Sirnak was her final assignment.

Aydin fought the PKK in long career

Maj. Gen. Aydogan Aydin, commander of the 23rd Gendarmerie Border Division Command in Sirnak, was the highest-ranking soldier martyred by the crash.

After graduating from the Turkish Military Academy in 1987, Aydin was assigned to critical operations throughout his career.

The commander particularly took part in many operations in northern Iraq against the terrorist PKK.

Aydin, who was promoted to major general after the July 2016 coup bid, undertook his final mission at Sirnak's Mt. Kato and Incebel Mountains beginning on April 19.

Reporting by Aziz Aslan and Osman Oksuz;Writing by Satuk Bugra Kutlugun