Turkish authorities have reported that all 20 people on board a Turkish military cargo plane that crashed in Georgia while returning from Azerbaijan were killed. The data was announced by the Turkish Defence Ministry on 12 November, a day after the plane crash.
“Our heroic battle comrades lost their lives on November 11, 2025, when our C-130 military cargo plane, flying out of Azerbaijan to return to Turkey, crashed near the Georgian-Azerbaijani border,” Turkish Defence Minister Yaşar Güler said in a statement published on X along with 20 photos of the dead.
The crash was earlier confirmed by the Turkish Defence Ministry and the Georgian Interior Ministry, which said it happened about 5 kilometres from Georgia’s border with Azerbaijan. The cause of the crash is still unknown.
Turkish and Georgian authorities have reportedly started inspections at the crash site in the municipality of Signagi.
Many world leaders, particularly from Azerbaijan and Georgia, as well as NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, have expressed their condolences.
Lockheed Martin, the US company that makes the widely used C-130 Hercules aircraft, said it was keen to assist Turkey in the investigation.