Turkish military plane crash in Georgia kills all 20 on board

Debris is seen at a crash site of a Turkish military cargo plane in Georgia's Sighnaghi municipality, close to the Azerbaijani border on Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Zurab Tsertsvadze)

ANKARA, Turkiye — All 20 personnel on board a Turkish military cargo plane that crashed in Georgia were killed, Turkiye’s defence minister announced on Wednesday.

The C-130 plane was flying from Ganja, Azerbaijan to Turkiye when it crashed in Georgia’s Sighnaghi municipality, close to the Azerbaijani border, on Tuesday. The cause of the crash is being investigated.

A Turkish accident investigation team reached the crash site and was inspecting the wreckage of the plane, in coordination with the Georgian authorities, the National Defense Ministry said.

Georgian Interior Minister Gela Geladze said authorities have so far recovered the remains of 18 of the victims and efforts were continuing to locate the other two.

Speaking at the crash site, Geladze said details concerning the accident would be released “in stages” in coordination with the Turkish authorities, due to military sensitivities.

The wreckage was spread across a plain that includes farmland and is surrounded by hills, Turkish private broadcaster NTV reported from the site. Debris from the aircraft was scattered across multiple locations, the report 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 the military personnel that were killed.

On Tuesday, Turkiye’s state-run Anadolu Agency quoted the Georgian aviation authority as saying that contact with the plane was lost a few minutes after it entered Georgia’s airspace. The plane had not issued a distress signal, it said.

C-130 military cargo planes are widely used by Turkiye’s armed forces for transporting personnel and handling logistical operations.

Turkiye and Azerbaijan maintain close military cooperation.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other Turkish officials attended Azerbaijan’s Victory Day celebrations in Baku on Saturday, marking Azerbaijan’s 2020 military success over Armenia over control of the Karabakh region, known internationally as Nagorno-Karabakh, a conflict that had lasted nearly four decades.

It was not immediately clear if the military personnel on the plane had attended the ceremonies.

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev and Georgian Foreign Minister Maka Botchorishvili extended their condolences to their Turkish counterparts over Tuesday’s crash.

“We are deeply shocked,” Aliyev said in a message, according to the Anadolu Agency.

U.S. Ambassador to Turkiye Tom Barrack offered his condolences and affirmed Washington’s solidarity with Ankara. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte also extended his sympathies, honored the military personnel who were killed, and thanked all NATO personnel for their service.

There was no information on funeral arrangements or when the remains would be returned to Turkiye.

Sozcu newspaper said the aircraft belonged to the 12th Air Base Command in Kayseri, central Turkiye. It had departed Kayseri on Monday, flown to Azerbaijan to pick up personnel in Ganja, and was en route to Merzifon, in northern Turkiye.

The plane was manufactured in 1968 and initially served in Saudi Arabia. It was added to the Turkish Armed Forces inventory in 2010, Sozcu reported.

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Sophiko Megrelidze contributed from Tbilisi, Georgia.

Suzan Fraser, The Associated Press