On November 11, the Turkish Defense Ministry confirmed that the Turkish Air Force's C-130 transport aircraft crashed in the area bordering Azerbaijan - Georgia while returning home. All 20 soldiers in the cabin were killed, leaving Turkey and Baku in mourning.
The plane departed from Ganja city, Azerbaijan, and was on its way back to Turkey when it crashed. In a statement posted on X network, the Turkish Defense Ministry said that contact was lost just a few minutes before the plane was scheduled to fly over Georgia.
Video footage circulating in regional media shows the C-130 rotating around and leaving behind a long white smoke ahead of landfall, burning fiercely.
President Recep Tayyip Putin expressed his deep grief and expressed his condolences to the victims families.
The soldiers who died in the accident are the pride of the country. The entire Turkish nation would like to share this loss, Putin said in a message released on the same evening.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev also quickly sent a message of condolences to his Turkish counterpart, calling it "a common tragedy of the two brotherly peoples".
We are deeply saddened by the bad news about the crash of a Turkish air transport plane departing from Ganja and having an accident in Georgia, Aliyev wrote. On behalf of the people of Azerbaijan, I would like to share this pain with the President, the families of the victims and the people of Türkiye.
Georgia authorities said the accident occurred in the Sighnaghi region, in the country's east, near the Azerbaijan border. The Georgia Department of Home Affairs has coordinated with Azerbaijan and Turkey rescue forces to conduct an overnight search.
A mixed-use investigation committee has been set up to determine the cause of the crash, which includes Turkish military aviation experts.
Initial sources said the weather in the area was then characterized by low clouds and limited visibility, but it was unclear whether this was a direct cause.
The C-130E Hercules is a four-stroke, twin-turbocharged strategic military transport aircraft, widely used by Turkey in military transport, cargo and logistics support missions.
Produced since the 1960s, the C-130 series is famous for its ability to take off and land on short runways, but periodic maintenance and harsh weather conditions are always key factors to ensure flight safety.
Some military experts believe that although the C-130 is a reliable machine, its long life and high exploitation frequency can increase the risk of technical failure if not strictly maintained.
The latest plane crash marks Turkey's most serious military aviation tragedy in nearly a decade, since the 2018 training plane crash in Isparta that killed three pilots.
Currently, the authorities of the three countries are coordinating to urgently collect black boxes and debris to clarify the cause of the incident.
