A helicopter crash in Qatar killed three Turkish nationals, including a military officer and two technicians from the Turkish defence company ASELSAN, the Turkish Defence Ministry has confirmed. The incident occurred last night during a training flight, and so far there is no information linking it to the conflict with Iran.
The aircraft, belonging to the Qatari armed forces, was conducting manoeuvres as part of the joint command between the two countries when it fell into the sea during the night due to a technical failure, the Turkish defence ministry said in a statement quoted by the TRT Haber news channel. Search and rescue efforts launched immediately afterwards located the wreckage of the helicopter and the bodies of the victims.
“In the crash, four members of the Qatari Armed Forces, one member of the Turkish Armed Forces and two ASELSAN technicians who were on board the helicopter became martyrs (killed in the line of duty). The exact cause of the accident will be determined as a result of the investigation to be carried out by the Qatari authorities. We pray to God for mercy for all our martyrs who lost their lives in this tragic accident, and offer our condolences to their families, the Turkish Armed Forces, the Qatari Armed Forces, ASELSAN, the Turkish nation and the brotherly people of Qatar,” the official statement added.
Turkish National Defence Minister Yaşar Güler released the identities of the deceased; the victims are Turkish Air Force Command Air Defence Major Sinan Taştekin and ASELSAN technicians Süleyman Cemre Kahraman and İsmail Enes Can.
No indication that the crash was caused by hostile action
Qatar‘s Defence Ministry announced earlier today that a helicopter had suffered a “technical malfunction” during a routine mission before crashing in Qatari territorial waters. The Qatari Interior Ministry said that six of the seven missing in the crash have been recovered. There are no reported indications at this stage that hostile action was the cause of the crash, which the Qatari authorities attribute to a malfunction.
The incident comes amid high tensions and an unprecedented crisis in the Middle East, marked by ongoing Iranian drone and missile attacks on Qatar and other countries in the region since the US and Israel launched a bombing campaign against Iran on 28 February. Türkiye has repeatedly condemned these attacks against Qatar and other Gulf countries, urging restraint on all sides.
Turkey and Qatar maintain important military cooperation agreements, and Turkish military presence on Qatari soil increased in the wake of the 2017 Gulf diplomatic crisis, which pitted the Doha government against its Arab neighbours, leading the latter to impose a complete blockade of the small peninsular state. Turkey maintains the Tariq bin Ziyad military base in Qatar, which hosts Turkish military personnel for training and joint defence missions.
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Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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