Türkiye will not participate in NATO exercises “Ramstein Flag 24” (video)

NATO's Ramstein Flag 24 exercises will be held in Greece for the first time. Türkiye has cancelled its participation.

Turkish Air Force refuses to provide flight plans for its fighter jets to operate in Athens airspace FIR*. Turkey appears to have decided to stay away from the alliance's major exercise, Ramstein Flag 24. Despite pressure from Ankara, which argued that submitting flight plans was not necessary, Athens, like other allied countries, rejected Turkey's objections..

This is a long-standing dispute with Ankara, which challenges Greek jurisdiction over Athens FIRtrying to convince that there is no need to inform the Greek side about their flights when they take place in the context of a NATO operation.

The Greek side took care from the very beginning to categorically reject Turkey's claimsmaintaining its firm position that any aircraft flying within the Athens FIR, regardless of its mission, must file a flight plan for safety and control reasonsThis is of great importance, especially in such a busy and strategically sensitive airspace as the Aegean Sea.

Exercise “Ramstein Flag 24”, which will be held at Andravida Air Base from September 30 to October 11, 2024represent an opportunity to strengthen interoperability and cooperation among the alliance member states. However, Türkiye has decided not to participate in them for the reasons stated above.

Athens, by the way, was not the only one who did not agree with Ankara's position. All other countries participating in the Ramstein Flag 24 exercises submitted their flight plans, as usual, recognizing the authority of the Greek air traffic control authorities and respecting international rules and regulations.

It is worth noting that the decision of the eastern neighbor did not surprise Athens, as Turkey has refused other NATO exercises in the past for similar reasons. A typical example is the “Meeting of the Tigers” exercise in May 2022, which was organized at the Araxos air base, in which Türkiye also did not participate.

Despite Turkey's absence, Ramstein Flag 24 will continue to operate as usual, bringing together fighters and personnel from most NATO allies. The exercise is considered one of the most important air exercises of the North Atlantic alliance, involving more than 120 combat aircraft: F-35 fighters from the United States and Italy, Rafale and Mirage 2000-5 from France, Gripen from Sweden and Hungary, Eurofighter Typhoon from Spain and Italy, F-18 from the United States and F-16 from Poland, Portugal and Romania. The goal of the exercise, writes edition newsbeast.gr – to enhance the capabilities of NATO joint forces to make tactical decisions in a complex and dynamic operational environment.

*FIR – flight information region (FIR from English Flight Information Region).

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