Turkey will not participate in NATO exercises

The Turkish Air Force has refused to take part in the NATO exercise “Tiger Meet”, which will be held in Greece on May 9-22.

According to the Turkish Sabah today, Turkey’s refusal is due to disagreements between Ankara and Athens, although earlier Turkish F-16 Fighting Falcon fighters were going to take part in the exercises. This year they will be held at the Araxos air base, in the west of the country. However, the Greek General Aviation Headquarters canceled Ankara’s invitation to participate. The reason is not new: the constant violations of Greek air borders by Turkish fighters and the flight over the islands of Greece. The publication writes:

“Before each exercise, the host country prepares a technical agreement on the conduct of activities. It is established that Greece, which prepared this year’s technical regulation, has amended the document in question with an approach aimed at Turkey, aimed at differences between the two countries. The Air Force Command immediately took action against these intentional additions and demanded to change the technical regulation, which is contrary to international law. Turkey’s insistent demands were not accepted by Greece.”

Thus writes RIA Newsreferring to Sabah, Turkey decided to refuse to participate in NATO exercises:

“It was decided not to participate in the exercises, since Greece manipulated the exercises in accordance with its political interests. It became known that the decision taken on the non-participation of the Turkish Air Force in the exercises was sent to the Greek authorities.”

Both countries – both Greece and Turkey – are trying to improve a difficult relationship. In the summer of 2020, Athens and Ankara were on the verge of armed conflict three times, while a general mobilization of the Greek armed forces was carried out. The reason was the start of seismic exploration in the Eastern Mediterranean region by Turkey. Greece considers this area its exclusive economic zone.

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