The 2021 Turkish Air Force Eurocopter AS532 Cougar crash occurred on 4 March 2021, when a

Turkish Air Force The Turkish Air Force ( tr, ) is the aerial warfare service branch of the Turkish Armed Forces. The Turkish Air Force can trace its origins back to June 1911 when it was founded by the Ottoman Empire, however, the air force as it is known t ...

(TAF)

Eurocopter AS532 Cougar The Eurocopter AS532 Cougar (now Airbus Helicopters H215M) is a twin-engine, medium-weight, multipurpose helicopter developed by France. The AS532 is a development and upgrade of the Aérospatiale SA 330 Puma in its militarized form. Its civil ...

, en route to Tatvan District in

Bitlis Bitlis ( hy, Բաղեշ '; ku, Bidlîs; ota, بتليس) is a city in southeastern Turkey and the capital of Bitlis Province. The city is located at an elevation of 1,545 metres, 15 km from Lake Van, in the steep-sided valley of the Bitlis R ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

, crashed in Bitlis Province. Eleven Turkish servicemen on board were killed in the crash, while two other servicemen survived the crash. Initially, five injured servicemen were hospitalized, though three of them, including Lieutenant General

Osman Erbaş Lieutenant General Osman Erbaş (1962 – 4 March 2021) was a Turkish army officer. He was a keen proponent of the use of unmanned aerial vehicles by the Turkish Army in anti-terrorism operations. In 2015 he was appointed commander of the 6th Mec ...

, the commander of the 8th Corps, later died of their injuries. It was the fourth incident in Turkey involving the helicopter model, which have caused the deaths of 39 people, including two high-ranking military officers.

Crash

The

(TAF)

took off from

Bingöl Bingöl ( diq, Çolig; ku, Çewlik; hy, Ճապաղջուր, translit=Chapaghjur) is a city in Eastern Turkey and the capital of Bingöl Province. Etymology One of the historical names for the city, ''Bingöl'' literally means ''thousand lak ...

in eastern

, at 10:55am GMT. The helicopter was en route to

Tatvan Tatvan ( ) is a city on the western shore of Lake Van. It is the chief city of Tatvan District within Bitlis Province in eastern Turkey, and has about 96,000 inhabitants. The current Mayor is Mehmet Emin Geylani ( AKP). The district is fully Kurdi ...

in Turkey's predominantly Kurdish-populated

Bitlis Province Bitlis Province ( tr, , , ku, Parêzgeha Bidlîsê) is a province of eastern Turkey, located to the west of Lake Van. The province is considered part of Western Armenia by Armenians. The province is considered part of Turkish Kurdistan and has ...

, where the Turkish forces have been combating militants of the banned

Kurdistan Workers' Party The Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK is a Kurdish militant political organization and armed guerrilla movement, which historically operated throughout Kurdistan, but is now primarily based in the mountainous Kurdish-majority regions of south ...

(PKK), designated as a terrorist group by the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

. It lost contact at around 11:25am GMT. The Turkish Ministry of National Defence (MoD) stated that the helicopter crashed in a rural area near Tatvan. The crash happened in an area blanketed in snow and with visibility hampered by thick clouds in the mountainous region. Locals rushed to the crash site to help the survivors as soon they heard the news of the crash. One of the survivors was partially buried under the wreck and snow. Initially, eight Turkish servicemen on board were killed in the crash, while five other servicemen were injured. The injured servicemen were immediately hospitalized, though three of them, including the lieutenant general

, the commander of the 8th Corps, later died of their injuries.

Aftermath

The crash was reported by the Turkish MoD. The ministry added that there were "efforts underway for the transfer of the injured personnel to the hospital". It also stated that an investigation was launched right away. The Turkish military immediately launched a

search and rescue Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...

mission, dispatching a party consisting of an

unmanned aerial vehicle An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controller ...

, a

CASA/IPTN CN-235 The CASA/IPTN CN-235 is a medium-range twin-engined transport aircraft that was jointly developed by CASA of Spain and Indonesian manufacturer IPTN. It is operated as both a regional airliner and military transport; its primary military roles ...

transport aircraft, and a helicopter.

Reactions

Domestic

The

President of Turkey The president of Turkey, officially the president of the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Cumhurbaşkanı), is the head of state and head of government of Turkey. The president directs the executive branch of the government of Tu ...

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician serving as the List of presidents of Turkey, 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as prime minister of Turkey from 2003 to 2014 and as Lis ...

, wished

God's mercy In Christianity, salvation (also called deliverance or Redemption (theology), redemption) is the "saving fhuman beings from sin and its consequences, which include death and separation from God in Christianity, God" by Crucifixion of Jesus, ...

upon the perished servicemen soldiers and extended his condolences to their families, the Turkish nation and the

Turkish Armed Forces The Turkish Armed Forces (TAF; tr, Türk Silahlı Kuvvetleri, TSK) are the military forces of the Republic of Turkey. Turkish Armed Forces consist of the General Staff, the Land Forces, the Naval Forces and the Air Forces. The current Chi ...

Vice President of Turkey The vice president of Turkey, officially the vice president of the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Cumhurbaşkanı Yardımcısı), is the second-highest officer in the executive branch of the government of Turkey, after the presi ...

Fuat Oktay Fuat Oktay (born 1964) is a Turkish politician, civil servant and academic serving as the first and current vice president of Turkey since 10 July 2018. An independent, he previously served as undersecretary to the prime minister of Turkey from ...

, extended condolences to families of the fallen soldiers. Turkish Ministry of National Defence conveyed its sympathies to their families, friends and country, calling the incident a "deeply saddening accident". Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs,

Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu (; born 5 February 1968) is a Turkish diplomat and politician who has served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey since 24 November 2015. He previously served in the same position from August 2014 to August 2015. He is ...

, Turkish Presidential Communications Director,

Fahrettin Altun Fahrettin Altun (born 11 September 1976, Stuttgart, Germany) is a Тurkish politician, researcher, academic, member of the Justice and Development Party and head of media and communications in the Turkish presidency. Education and early life A ...

, the Turkish Minister of Health,

Fahrettin Koca Fahrettin Koca (born 2 January 1965) is a Turkish physician and politician. He is the List of Ministers of Health of Turkey, minister of health of the Cabinet Erdoğan IV, 66th government of Turkey. Early life and education Fahrettin Koca was b ...

, CHP chairman

Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu (born Kemal Karabulut, 17 December 1948) is a Turkish economist, retired civil servant and social democratic politician. He is leader of the Republican People's Party (CHP) and has been Leader of the Main Opposition in T ...

, and MHP chairman

Devlet Bahçeli Devlet Bahçeli (born 1 January 1948) is a Turkish politician, economist, former deputy prime minister, and current chairman of the far-right, ultranationalist Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). An academic in economics from Gazi University, Ba ...

, expressed their condolences over the accident.

International

The

United States embassy The United States has the second most diplomatic missions of any country in the world after Mainland China, including 166 of the 193 member countries of the United Nations, as well as observer state Vatican City and non-member countries Kosovo a ...

to Turkey in

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...

offered "its sincere condolences" for the Turkish soldiers killed and injured in the crash, wishing a "rapid recovery to the injured". Head of the European Union Delegation to Turkey,

Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut (born 1960) is a German diplomat currently serving as the Head of the EU Delegation to Turkey. He was previously German Ambassador to France from 2015 to 2020. Before that, he served as the chief adviser for European affa ...

, offered his sympathies for those affected by the crash, while the

NATO Secretary-General The secretary general of NATO is the chief civil servant of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The officeholder is an international diplomat responsible for coordinating the workings of the alliance, leading NATO's international staff ...

Jens Stoltenberg Jens Stoltenberg (born 16 March 1959) is a Norwegian politician who has been serving as the 13th secretary general of NATO since 2014. A member of the Norwegian Labour Party, he previously served as the 34th prime minister of Norway from 2000 to ...

called the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu to extend his condolences. The

President of Azerbaijan The president of the Republic of Azerbaijan is the head of state of Azerbaijan. The Constitution states that the president is the embodiment of executive power, commander-in-chief, "representative of Azerbaijan in home and foreign policies", ...

Ilham Aliyev Ilham Heydar oghlu Aliyev ( az, İlham Heydər oğlu Əliyev, ; born 24 December 1961) is the fourth president of Azerbaijan, serving in the post since 31 October 2003. The son and second child of the former Azerbaijani leader Heydar Aliyev, ...

, expressed his sorrow to President Erdoğan in a phone call, while the Azerbaijani Minister of Foreign Affairs,

Jeyhun Bayramov Jeyhun Aziz oglu Bayramov ( az, Ceyhun Əziz oğlu Bayramov) is an Azerbaijani politician who currently has served the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan since 2020. Bayramov previously served as the Minister of Education f ...

, expressed his condolences to the families and friends of the killed, as well as the Turkish nation, and expressed his sorrow over the incident.

References