Türkiye probes cause of military plane crash that killed 20
Debris is seen at a crash site of a Turkish military cargo plane in Georgia's Sighnaghi municipality, close to the Azerbaijani border on Nov 12, 2025. (Photo: AP/Zurab Tsertsvadze)
ISTANBUL: Investigators have found the black box from the Turkish military plane that crashed in Georgia, killing all 20 onboard, but have yet to analyse it, officials said on Wednesday (Nov 12), warning against hasty conclusions about what caused the incident.
Türkiye said the military cargo plane crashed while returning home from Azerbaijan and investigators had so far recovered 19 bodies and were looking for the last one.
The plane took off from Ganja airport in western Azerbaijan on Tuesday afternoon but crashed shortly after crossing the border into eastern Georgia, the ministry said after the incident.
"Our heroic comrades-in-arms were martyred on 11 November 2025 due to the crash of our C-130 military cargo aircraft, which had taken off from Azerbaijan to return to Türkiye," Defence Minister Yasar Guler said on X alongside 20 photographs of those who died.
Türkiye has not said what caused the accident but dramatic footage taken by eyewitnesses and published by Azerbaijani media appeared to show the plane spinning horizontally alongside several bits of debris as it fell.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said investigators had found the aircraft's black box and were looking into what caused the crash.
"Last night, our 46-person accident investigation team was deployed to the region. The black box of our aircraft has been found and investigations have begun," he said.
"We have recovered the bodies of 19 of our martyrs. Search operations continue for the last one."
Azerbaijani Report news agency said among those on board were maintenance specialists for F-16 fighter jets that had taken part in Saturday's military parade in Baku when Azerbaijan celebrated Victory Day - marking its triumph in the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
The event was attended by Erdogan along with his foreign and defence ministers and his intelligence chief.
"NO EXPLOSIVES ON BOARD"
The news agency said the Turkish plane was carrying mechanical spare parts for F-16s but there were no explosives on board, ruling out the possibility of an explosion.
"We are thoroughly investigating this tragic incident, which has deeply saddened not only our nation but also our Azerbaijani brothers and Georgian friends," Erdogan said.
But he warned against speculating about the causes of the crash.
"I sincerely ask everyone, especially on social media, not to give any credit to those who stoop so low as to exploit such a tragedy for the sake of dirty politics," he said, offering his "deepest condolences" to the families of those who died.
Georgia's interior ministry said the plane went down in the Sighnaghi area, "about five kilometres from Georgia's state border" with Azerbaijan.
Georgian air traffic control said the plane had disappeared from its radar shortly after entering its airspace "without transmitting a distress signal" and that it had been alerted to the crash by the emergency services.
The C-130 Hercules military cargo plane is made by US manufacturer Lockheed Martin.
