All 20 military personnel aboard a Turkish C-130 Hercules cargo plane were killed when the aircraft crashed near the Georgia-Azerbaijan border, Turkey’s defense minister announced on Wednesday.

The plane had taken off from Azerbaijan and was en route to Turkey when it went down.

In a message posted on the social media platform X, Defense Minister Yasar Guler confirmed the fatalities, honoring the fallen soldiers with the term reserved for those who die in service. "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," he wrote.

The minister’s post was accompanied by photographs of those who died in the crash.

In a show of solidarity, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev also posted on X, expressing his condolences to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The incident underscores the close ties between the two nations, though the cause of the crash is not yet known. An investigation is expected to follow.