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Causes of Turkish plane crash: initial information and observations rule out conspiracy theories-EXCLUSIVE

12 November 2025 00:16 (UTC +04:00)

Yesterday, a C-130 military transport plane belonging to brotherly Türkiye, which was heading from Azerbaijan to Türkiye, crashed in the territory of Georgia.

All 20 people on board were reported to have lost their lives in the accident.

Immediately after the accident, President Ilham Aliyev expressed his condolences to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and later the two leaders had a telephone conversation.

The heads of relevant Azerbaijani structures are also in contact with their Turkish colleagues.

Azerbaijan, faithful to its fraternal duty, is very sensitive to the accident that occurred and is providing comprehensive support for resolving the issues arising in this regard.

Currently, various opinions are being voiced on social media and some media outlets regarding the causes of the accident. Unfortunately, there are even those who put forward unrealistic conspiracy theories without an official opinion.

According to information obtained by APA, the plane landed at Ganja airport yesterday and waited there for 2 hours. The plane's crew did not leave the deck of the aircraft and the airport area.

The crew on the plane were people who provided technical support for Turkish F-16 aircraft that participated in the military parade held in Baku on November 8. Before boarding the plane, they went through all procedures and checks down to the smallest detail in accordance with the airport's security regulations. This process was also recorded by the airport's security cameras.

"There were no explosives or devices inside the plane, only spare parts for F-16 aircraft," the source told APA.

According to the information we have received, the crashed aircraft has been in operation for a long time. The aircraft was last overhauled in 2020.

Initial observations suggest that there are no traces of external impact on the fuselage of the aircraft. For information, it should be noted that after the Azerbaijani Embraer-190 crashed on December 25 last year, the first inspection clearly showed that the fuselage of the aircraft had numerous holes formed as a result of external impact. This led to the version of the plane being shot down as the basis.

"Therefore, the absence of external impact elements on the fuselage of the C-130 excludes the possibility of its being shot down. Even if we assume the possibility of the presence of an explosive substance or device inside the aircraft and its explosion, there should definitely be traces of an explosion on the fuselage of the crashed aircraft," the source noted.

Thus, preliminary investigations provide grounds for focusing on two versions. First, since the aircraft has been in operation for a long time, corrosion could have formed on its body, which is a serious reason for the aircraft to crash under high pressure in the air. It should be noted that in the 1990s, the US Armed Forces Hercules aircraft crashed for this very reason.

The second version is that the cargo transported on cargo planes is firmly secured in accordance with the relevant requirements. Failure to comply with this requirement leads to the cargo moving due to turbulence or other effects and creating serious complications inside, which is a sufficient reason for the accident.

All this shows that some conspiracy theories currently circulating on social media are unfounded. In fact, there is no basis for this, since the aircraft's black box will shed light on the underlying causes of the accident.

It should be noted that the Georgian government is also sensitive to this issue.