All 20 Turkish military personnel aboard a C-130 Hercules cargo plane were killed when it crashed in Georgia near the Azerbaijani border, Turkey’s Defence Ministry said on Wednesday.
The aircraft had taken off from Azerbaijan and was en route to Turkey when it went down late on Tuesday, the ministry 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,” Defence Minister Yasar Guler wrote on social media platform X, posting photographs of the victims.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev offered condolences to Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in a message on X.
Georgia’s air traffic control authority said the plane disappeared from radar shortly after entering Georgian airspace. The cause of the crash remains unclear.
A Turkish investigation team arrived at the crash site early Wednesday and was working alongside Georgian authorities to examine the wreckage, the ministry said. Debris was scattered across several locations, according to Turkish broadcaster NTV.
The C-130 Hercules, manufactured by U.S. company Lockheed Martin, is widely used by military forces for transport missions in difficult terrain.
Footage circulating on Azerbaijani media appeared to show the plane spinning before hitting the ground and erupting into a large plume of black smoke. Other videos purported to show the burning wreckage.
The Turkish military urged media outlets not to publish crash footage or images, citing security and privacy concerns for the victims.
There was no immediate information on funeral arrangements or when the remains would be repatriated to Turkey.