A Turkish fighter jet on a training mission crashed on its final approach to an airport in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir on Monday, Turkey’s military said on Monday, noting that the pilot had ejected from the plane and was unharmed.
An investigation had started into the cause of the crash, the army said in a statement.
Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said initial findings indicated that a technical fault was responsible and noted that the plane was not carrying any ordnance.
The jet crashed in an empty field about 4-5 km (about 3 miles) away from the Diyarbakir military airport.
Commercial flights to predominantly Kurdish Diyarbakir’s civilian airport, next to the military air base, were rerouted to nearby airports, sources said.
Jets from the base regularly carry out air strikes against Kurdish militants in northern Iraq.