Second sighting of a foreign drone in Turkey in recent days
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) crashed in a rural area of İzmit in Kocaeli Province. After residents reported the incident, gendarmerie teams and security forces were dispatched to the scene and an investigation was launched.
According to initial information, the downed drone was observed in the village of Çubuklu Bala, and residents informed the authorities. Local sources said the drone was a Russian-made Orlan-10 and that a red star—the emblem used on Russian military aircraft—was visible on its tail. The Orlan-10 has an operational range of about 600 kilometers.
Gendarmerie teams and security forces remain at the site; technical and security examinations are ongoing to determine the cause of the crash and to investigate the drone’s origin. Local officials have not yet released further details about the drone’s ownership or mission.
The incident comes after, a few days earlier on 15 December, an unidentified drone over Ankara was shot down by Turkish fighter jets. Turkey’s Ministry of National Defense said in a statement that the drone had been destroyed at the most appropriate moment and that Russia and Ukraine had been warned about it beforehand.
