Wednesday 12 / November / 2025
All 20 military personnel on board a Turkish military cargo plane that crashed in Georgia were killed, Türkiye's defense minister announced on Wednesday.
The personnel were on board the C-130 Hercules plane that took off from Azerbaijan en route to Türkiye, officials said.
"Our heroic comrades-in-arms were martyred on November 11, 2025, when our C-130 military cargo plane, which had taken off from Azerbaijan en route to our country, crashed near the Georgia-Azerbaijan border," Defense Minister Yasar Guler said in a message posted on X, together with photographs of those killed in the crash.
In a post on X, Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev sent his sympathies to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
What caused the crash?
Georgia's air traffic control service said the aircraft had disappeared from radar shortly after entering its airspace.
The cause of the crash is still unknown, and an investigation is underway.
An investigation team from Türkiye reached the crash site early on Wednesday and was inspecting the plane's wreckage in coordination with the Georgian authorities, the National Defense Ministry said.
Debris from the plane was spread across multiple locations, according to a report by Türkiye's private broadcaster NTV.
Türkiye asks that crash footage not to be published
The C-130 Hercules is made by US manufacturer Lockheed Martin and is used by many air forces around the world to transport personnel and equipment.
Footage circulated Tuesday in Azerbaijani media purporting to show the plane spinning sideways as it fell, ending in a large cloud of black smoke on the ground. There was also footage of what news outlets alleged was burning wreckage at the crash site.
The Turkish military has asked the press not to publish images of the crash, citing security and privacy concerns for the victims.
There was no information on funeral arrangements or when the remains
would be returned to Türkiye.
