All 20 Turkish military personnel on the cargo plane that crashed in Georgia were killed
ANKARA, Türkiye (AP) — All 20 personnel on crashed military cargo plane Georgia Türkiye’s defense minister said on Wednesday that there were those killed.
The C-130 plane took off from Ganja. Azerbaijan and he was on his way back Türkiye It crashed on Tuesday in the Sighnaghi municipality near Georgia’s border with Azerbaijan. The cause of the accident is being investigated.
The Ministry of National Defense said that the Turkish accident investigation team reached the crash site early on Wednesday and examined the wreckage of the plane in coordination with Georgian authorities.
Debris spread across a plain surrounded by hills, including agricultural land, Turkish private broadcaster NTV reported from the region. The report stated that the wreckage of the plane was scattered in many places.
Minister of Defense Yaşar Güler, in the message he published with the photographs of the military personnel martyred in
On Tuesday, Türkiye’s state-run Anadolu Agency quoted Georgia’s aviation authority as saying contact with the plane was lost minutes after it entered Georgian airspace. It was stated that the plane did not give an emergency signal.
C-130 military cargo aircraft are widely used by the Turkish Armed Forces for personnel transportation and logistics operations.
Türkiye and Azerbaijan maintain close military cooperation.
President of Türkiye Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other Turkish officials attended Azerbaijan’s Victory Day celebrations in Baku on November 8. Azerbaijan’s military success against Armenia under Karabakh control in 2020 There is a long-standing conflict in the region known internationally as Nagorno-Karabakh. almost forty years.
It is not yet clear whether the military personnel in the cargo attended the ceremonies.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Georgian Foreign Minister Maka Botchorishvili expressed their condolences to their Turkish counterparts over Tuesday’s accident.
In his statement to AA correspondent, Aliyev said, “The news that our soldiers lost their lives in the accident that occurred on Georgian territory shook us deeply.”
US Ambassador to Türkiye Tom Barrack expressed his condolences and confirmed Washington’s solidarity with Ankara. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte also expressed his condolences, honored the killed military personnel and thanked all NATO personnel for their service.
No information was given regarding funeral arrangements or when the bodies would be returned to Türkiye.
