The Gendarmerie Criminal Investigation Bureau said it found no evidence of external interference or an explosion on the C-130 military aircraft that crashed on the Georgia-Azerbaijan border on Nov. 11, 2025.
“No shrapnel marks from any munitions that might have exploded near the aircraft, nor any damage marks resulting from such munitions striking the aircraft, were found. No explosion marks resulting from the detonation of an improvised explosive device, nor any explosive device or its components, were found either,” the report said after the Bureau completed its investigation. The findings will be included in the file being compiled by the Ankara Chief Prosecutor’s Office.
Twenty soldiers were killed in the crash of the aircraft with tail number 68-1609 in Kakheti, Georgia. The investigation is being conducted by the Military Crimes Investigation Bureau of the Ankara Chief Prosecutor’s Office.
Simultaneously, the Air Force Command’s Evaluation and Inspection Directorate is investigating the cause of the crash with the participation of experts from TÜBİTAK, TAI, and MKE.
The wreckage and other evidence were collected by delegations from both countries in accordance with international law and bilateral agreements, sent to Turkey, and autopsies were performed on the bodies at the Ankara Forensic Medicine Institute.
The Gendarmerie report was released April 3 via the state-run Anadolu Agency, shortly after Doğu Perinçek, the 83-year-old eurasianist and Vatan Party chair, said on March 31 that the plane had been shot down by Israel, but that this information had been kept from the public.
The Defense Ministry, meanwhile, filed a criminal complaint with the prosecutor’s office on April 1, and said that Perinçek aimed at undermining the Turkish Armed Forces, and his remarks include disinformation.
DID LIFE RAFTS CAUSE DAMAGE?
The flight crew did not mention any malfunction in the Flight Data Recorder (FDR) recordings and it appears the incident occurred suddenly, the Defense Ministry said at a weekly press conference on April 9. A spokesperson added: “It has been determined that the fractures in the aircraft fuselage did not originate from metal fatigue, but that the materials exhibited brittle fatigue behavior during tensile tests.”
Noting that both upper sections of the aircraft’s wings contained life rafts — intended for use in the event of an emergency landing on water — along with CO2 cylinders filled with non-flammable and non-explosive gas to inflate them, a ministry official said: “It has been assessed that the life raft, having exited its housing, came into contact with the left tail-fuselage section of the aircraft, causing damage to the aircraft’s horizontal and vertical stabilizers, which may have led to the aircraft’s crash.”
