Activity of the Turkish Air Force on the Armenian border: Where do the tracks lead?

In recent days, information has been circulating on social networks that the Turkish Armed Forces are accumulating troops and military equipment in the regions bordering Armenia, particularly in Igdir. Some Russian telegram channels were the first to report about this on November 16, including Russian TV host Vladimir Solovyov. Later the discussion spread to other social networks. Similar information was also published by a number of Azerbaijani pages. The information was also circulated by Armenian news websites.

The Fact Investigation Platform studied open sources to figure out what is happening near Armenia’s western borders.

Thus, according to open sources, on November 16, at least two planes flew from the central regions of Turkey to Igdir. According to Flightradar24.com, these flights were carried out by Airbus A400M-180 and Lockheed C-130E Hercules military transport aircraft. It should be noted that these transport aircraft can be used for both cargo transportation and personnel transportation.

The A400M aircraft left for Igdir on the morning of November 16 from Nevsehir Airport not far from Kayseri. Later, the aircraft returned to Ankara from the border areas with Syria. The flight route from Igdir to the Syrian border was not saved on flightradar24.com, instead the return flight was saved.

The ads-b.nl database, which examines military flights, also contains some information about the flights on November 16. The photo shows the flight of the C-130 aircraft with registration number 61-0963 near the Armenian border.

On the same day, these aircraft also flew to parts of Turkey bordering Syria. The activity of Turkish warplanes was also noticeable in the days following the ceasefire agreement signed between Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia on November 10 (particularly on November 11-13).

On November 11, the A00M-180 aircraft with registration number 71-01468 flew to the city of Aghri (not far from the border with Armenia), and from Aghri to Ankara. On October 12, the same aircraft left Ankara for the Syrian border (the exact location of the landing was not fixed by the radar).

On November 4 as well, the radars recorded the flight of this aircraft to Igdir.

It should be noted that in addition to being quite close to the Armenian border and to the capital Yerevan, there is a Turkish military base in Igdir.

It is noteworthy that a number of planes belonging to the Turkish Air Force are currently making a number of flights from different parts of the country to Kayseri and Nevsehir airports in central Turkey, from where they fly to the border regions with Syria and Armenia.

Active movements do not involve the border with Armenia only

It should be noted that in recent days the Turkish Air Force is quite active not only near the borders with Armenia. Turkish aircraft regularly fly to regions near Syria, and Turkish “Bayraktar” drones regularly monitor the Iraqi-Iranian border.

On November 18, the Turkish A400M flew from the central regions of Turkey to the Iranian border, most likely landing at Yuksekova Airport.

We can state that the presence of Turkish military forces in the areas bordering Armenia has really increased. However, activity was also observed in the regions bordering Iran and Iraq. Moreover, about a week ago, three Iranian border guards were killed while blocking the entry of militants from Turkey to the West Azerbaijan Province of Iran, which was followed by Iran’s retaliation. And on November 17, the Turkish Defense Ministry announced that a Turkish soldier was killed on the border with Iraq in an operation against Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) militants.

Ani Avetisyan