“Our teams have informed us that we have lost seven heroes, two of them are the pilots,” Suleyman Soylu told journalists at Ferit Melen Airport, reported state media outlet Anadolu Agency.
No further information has been released so far about the cause of the crash.
According to the minister, the plane crash took place at an altitude of 2,200 meters (7218 feet) on Mount Artos, and was taking part in a reconnaissance and surveillance flight in Van and Hakkari provinces.
Turkey’s eastern provinces, the flight’s areas of operation, have been a site of fierce fighting between Turkish forces and Kurdish militants for decades.
Just to the south, Turkey began air and ground military operations in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq's disputed territories a month ago, with the stated aim of removing suspected Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) targets from the area.
The PKK is an armed group fighting for Kurdish political and cultural rights in Turkey. It has been clashing with Turkish forces inside and outside Turkey since 1984.
The interior minister later arrived at the scene of the crash.
Van provincial governor Mehmet Emin Bilmez announced a government investigation into the incident was underway, according to AFP.
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