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

Turkish Air Force The Turkish Air Force () is the Air force, air and space force of the Turkish Armed Forces. It traces its origins to 1 June 1911 when it was founded as the Ottoman Aviation Squadrons, Aviation Squadrons by the Ottoman Empire. It was composed ...

(TAF)

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

, en route to

Tatvan District Tatvan District is a district of Bitlis Province of Turkey. Its seat is the city of Tatvan.İ ...

Bitlis Bitlis ( or ; ) is a city in southeastern Turkey. It is the seat of Bitlis District and Bitlis Province.Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

, 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 (20 March 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 th ...

, 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 (; ; ), known as Çapakçur before 1944, is a city in Turkey. It is the seat of Bingöl Province and Bingöl District,Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

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

Tatvan Tatvan (; ) is a city on the western shore of Lake Van, in Bitlis Province in eastern Turkey. It is the seat of Tatvan District.Kurdish-populated

Bitlis Province Bitlis Province (; ; ) is a province of eastern Turkey, located to the west of Lake Van. It takes its name from the central city, Bitlis. Its area is 8,294 km2, and its population is 353,988 (2022). The province is considered part of Western ...

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

Kurdistan Workers' Party The Kurdistan Workers' Party, or the PKK, isDespite the PKK's 12th Congress announcing plans for total organisational dissolution, the PKK has not yet been dissolved de facto or de jure. a Kurds, Kurdish militant political organization and armed ...

(PKK), designated as a terrorist group by the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

. 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) or unmanned aircraft system (UAS), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft with no human pilot, crew, or passengers onboard, but rather is controlled remotely or is autonomous.De Gruyter Handbook of Dron ...

, 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 (), is the head of state and head of government of Turkey. The president directs the executive branch of the national government and is the commander-in-chief of the ...

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician who is the 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as the 25th prime minister of Turkey, prime minister from 2003 to 2014 as part of the Jus ...

, wished

God's mercy Divine mercy or God's mercy refers to the compassionate love, forgiveness, and forbearance of God toward creation, especially humankind. It is an essential attribute of God in Christianity, in Judaism, and in Islam. It has also inspired particul ...

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; , TSK) are the armed forces, military forces of the Turkey, Republic of Turkey. The TAF consist of the Turkish Army, Land Forces, the Turkish Navy, Naval Forces and the Turkish Air Force, Air Forces. The Chief of ...

Vice President of Turkey The vice president of Turkey, officially the vice president of the Republic of Türkiye (), is the second-highest officer in the executive branch of the government of Turkey, after the president. The vice president is also a statutory member o ...

Fuat Oktay Fuat Oktay (born 21 January 1964) is a Turkish politician, civil servant and academic who served as the first vice president of Turkey from 2018 to 2023. He previously served as undersecretary to the prime minister of Turkey from 2016 until his ...

, 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 is currently a member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, Grand National Assembly. He also served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Turkey), Minister o ...

, Turkish Presidential Communications Director,

Fahrettin Altun Fahrettin Altun (born 11 September 1976, Stuttgart, Germany) is a Turkish politician, researcher, academic, who served as the head of media and communications in the Turkish presidency from 2018 to 2025. Education and early life Altun studied ...

, the Turkish Minister of Health,

Fahrettin Koca Fahrettin Koca (born 2 January 1965) is a Turkish physician and politician. He was the minister of health of the 67th government of Turkey. Early life and education Fahrettin Koca was born on 2 January 1965 into a Kurdish family in the village ...

, CHP chairman

Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu (; born 17 December 1948), also referred to by his initials KK, is a Turkish politician who served as the Leader of the Republican People's Party, leader of the Republican People's Party (CHP) from 2010 to 2023. He was Lis ...

, and MHP chairman

Devlet Bahçeli Devlet Bahçeli (born 1 January 1948) is a Turkish people, Turkish politician, economist, former Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey, deputy prime minister, and current chairman of the Far-right politics, far-right, Ultranationalism, ultranationa ...

, expressed their condolences over the accident.

International

The

United States embassy The United States has the second largest number of active diplomatic posts of any country in the world after the People's Republic of China, including 272 bilateral posts (embassies and consulates) in 174 countries, as well as 11 permanent miss ...

to Turkey in

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

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, 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), an intergovernmental military alliance with 32 member states. The officeholder is an international diplomat responsible for coordinating th ...

Jens Stoltenberg Jens Stoltenberg (; born 16 March 1959) is a Norwegian politician from the Labour Party. Since 2025, he has been the Minister of Finance in the Støre Cabinet. He has previously been the prime minister of Norway and secretary general of NATO. ...

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 the Azerbaijan, Republic of Azerbaijan. The Constitution of Azerbaijan, Constitution states that the president is the embodiment of Executive (government), executive power, co ...

Ilham Aliyev Ilham Heydar Oghlu Aliyev (born 24 December 1961) is an Azerbaijani politician who has been the fourth president of Azerbaijan since 2003. He is also the leader of the New Azerbaijan Party since 2005. The son and second child of former Aze ...

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

Jeyhun Bayramov Jeyhun Aziz oglu Bayramov (; born 25 June 1973) is an Azerbaijani politician who is the current Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Bayramov previously served as the Minister of Education from 2018 to 2020. Early life and ...

, 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