President Erdoğan: We will share the cause of the cargo plane crash with the public transparently

Here are the highlights from Erdoğan's statements:

My dear nation, esteemed members of the press, I greet you with my most heartfelt feelings, respect, and affection. Through you, I send my greetings and love to all my fellow citizens who are following us with interest and excitement in front of their screens right now. I likewise respectfully greet all our brothers and sisters whose hearts beat with our nation all over the world, from Asia to Africa, from the Balkans to the Caucasus.

Dear friends, every event we experience reveals that Turkey possesses a magnitude, influence, and circle of affection far beyond its borders. We saw this once again after our military cargo plane crashed in the region near the Azerbaijan-Georgia border while returning from victory celebrations.

We received messages of condolence and solidarity from all over the world, especially from brotherly countries. In particular, Georgia and Azerbaijan mobilized all their resources from the very first moment of the tragedy and were in full cooperation regarding the delivery of search and rescue teams, the location of the wreckage, and ensuring the security of the scene.

We reached the plane's black box and the remains of our martyrs in a short time. On Friday, we brought our martyrs to our country to bid them farewell to their eternal resting places. We fulfilled our final duty to our martyrs with the participation of our ministers, members of parliament, civilian and military personnel, and our citizens.

Once again, I commemorate our heroic soldiers, whose cherished memories we will always keep alive, with the utmost respect, and I pray for God's mercy upon each of them. Likewise, I pray for God's mercy upon our pilot who was martyred in the firefighting plane belonging to our General Directorate of Forestry that crashed upon returning from Croatia. As the poet said, it is the blood on it that makes the flag a flag; the land is a homeland if there is someone to die for it. This truth has not changed for centuries and will not change. Just as it has been for a thousand years, there are many children of this homeland today who serve at the cost of their lives for the peace of our nation and the survival of our state, both within and outside our borders. I pray that God protects them all, keeps them safe, and lets no harm come to them.

In light of the data collected by our accident investigation team and as a result of the examination of the black box, we will be able to see much more clearly why this tragic incident, in which we lost 20 of our lives as martyrs, occurred. We will share these with our public, especially the families of our martyrs, in a transparent manner. On this occasion, I thank all the friendly and brotherly countries that shared our pain by calling or sending messages. I would also like to express this here: just as the rank of martyrdom, which is the highest rank after prophethood, is sublime, having patience for those left behind is just as great a degree. As a member of this nation, I must say clearly that it is impossible not to be moved by the submission, dignity, patience, and fortitude of our martyrs' families. May God be pleased with all my brothers and sisters who do not compromise their fortitude despite the burning fire in their hearts. Esteemed members of the press, dear friends, as a cabinet, we serve with passion every single one of our 86 million people across the entire 783 thousand square kilometers of the Republic of Turkey.

"WE ARE ADDING A NEW ONE TO OUR WORKS EVERY DAY"

As representatives of an understanding that accepts service to the people as service to the Creator, we work tirelessly and add a new one to our works every day. We have spent the two weeks since our last cabinet meeting in a very productive manner. On November 4, we accepted the letters of credence of the ambassadors appointed to our country. The next day, we held our party's group meeting with great enthusiasm. The Library 5.0 and Human-Centered Digital Transformation International Conference held on November 6 gave us the opportunity to see new trends in this field. We were very pleased to host very valuable names from our country and different parts of the world at our Presidential National Library. Our National Library, which we brought to Ankara 5 years ago, has become the 3rd largest library in the world with a total of 141,700,000 resources. Just last year, we hosted 2 million people, most of them young, in our library. As of November 15, we have hosted a total of 8,650,000 visitors in our National Library. As you know, we offer two meals of soup a day to our guests who read, write, conduct research, or prepare for exams in our library. We also offer our 15 types of drinks and cakes to our guests free of charge. Since the beginning of this year, we have provided 7,340,000 free refreshments. This is also quite remarkable: the current number of members in our public libraries has reached 7.6 million, and the number of books has reached 25.6 million. With our 800,000 new books currently in distribution, we hope to increase this number to 26.4 million by the end of the year. Even these figures alone reveal the deep difference in vision between us and the opposition. While our political rivals see young people as raw material and push them forward to cover up their corruption, we work selflessly for them to be trained in the best way in every field with the understanding that our youth are our future. We spare no sacrifice for the upbringing of a youth that has received quality education, is equipped with knowledge and wisdom, and upholds their national and spiritual values.

"WE HAVE MADE IT THE 7TH LARGEST ECONOMY IN EUROPE"

As long as our youth read, research, and improve themselves. Hopefully, we will continue to serve them with this consciousness. Dear friends, we were in Baku on November 8 to celebrate Victory Day with our Azerbaijani brothers and sisters and to participate in the victory parade organized in Freedom Square. We commemorated with mercy our martyrs who fell in the 44-day Patriotic War for the liberation of Karabakh from occupation, and with gratitude our heroic veterans. With the motto of two states, one nation, we will continue to stand by dear Azerbaijan with all our means in their good and bad days from now on.

In particular, we will not refrain from doing whatever is necessary for the establishment of lasting peace and the acceleration of economic development in the South Caucasus. On November 10, we once again commemorated with respect the Founder of our Republic and its first President, Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, on the 87th anniversary of his passing.

Throughout our terms in office, acting on the principle that there is no lordship over the nation, but rather guardianship, we have not allowed anyone to boss our dear nation around, shake their fingers at them, or look down upon or despise the people of Anatolia. We have worked with all our might to make the Republic of Turkey, the latest link in the chain of states we have established in these lands, victorious and successful forever.

We have turned a country that could not even produce a sewing needle at one time into the 17th largest economy in the world and the 7th largest in Europe. In the second quarter of 2025, per capita national income reached 17 thousand dollars. In 2002, we could only export 36 billion dollars a year. As of October 2025, our annual exports broke a record with 270.2 billion dollars. Our services exports increased from 14 billion dollars to 121.6 billion dollars. Turkey, which was once 80% dependent on foreign sources in the defense industry, has risen to a level in this field today that the world follows with envy.