“A C-130 military cargo plane that took off from Azerbaijan to Turkey crashed on the Georgian-Azerbaijani border. We have started search and rescue operations in coordination with the Azerbaijani and Georgian authorities,” the Turkish Ministry of Defense said.
Nothing is officially known about the fate of the two dozen people who were on board the crashed C-130. However, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hinted at something when he commented on the plane crash with the words: “May God have mercy on our martyrs.” Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev expressed his condolences in a letter of condolence to Erdogan, in which he expressed his condolences for the “loss of soldiers”.
The machine with the call sign TUAF543 took off from Ganja International Airport in Azerbaijan. It gradually gained a height of 7300 meters. The last ADS-B signal was received by the radars at 10.49 UTC (11.49 our time). According to the Daily Sabah website, the Georgian Ministry of the Interior later clarified that the plane crashed “roughly five kilometers from the Georgian state border with Azerbaijan.”
The video recording the accident was broadcast by the private Turkish television station NTV. The plane spirals down on it, leaving behind a trail of white smoke.
Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya and his Georgian counterpart, Minister Gela Geladze, went to the place.
“It is with deep sadness that I learned that our C-130 military cargo plane of our Ministry of National Defense, which arrived from Azerbaijan, crashed on the Georgian-Azerbaijani border. I wish our dear nation a speedy recovery,” the Turkish minister said on the X network.
Azerbaycan’dan turykyme gelmekte olan MSB Bakanlığımızma ait C130 askeri kargo uçağımızın Gürcistan-Azerbaycan şışında düştiğünü derin bir üzüntüyle öğrendim.
Arama recovery works in progress. Gürcistan İçişleri Bakını Sayın Gela Geladze ile telefonla taşımtüm. Sayın…
— Ali Yerlikaya (@AliYerlikaya) November 11, 2025
The C-130 Hercules is a military transport aircraft with four turboprop engines designed and manufactured by the American company Lockheed Martin. The aircraft is designed to land and take off on unprepared or semi-prepared runways.
The Turkish Air Force has been using the aircraft, which has the capacity to transport 92 soldiers or 64 fully equipped paratroopers, since 1963. Its crew usually consists of four people.
The C-130 is actively used by more than 60 countries, including the USA, Canada and Australia. Since 1954, Lockheed Martin has produced over 2,500 of these aircraft.
C-130 military cargo planes are used by the Turkish armed forces for transporting personnel and handling logistics operations. Turkey and Azerbaijan maintain close military cooperation.
