ISLAMABAD – The participation of Pakistan in a Turkish military exercise inGreece’s territorial waters this week – the second such incident in thepast few days – is being seen as a response to the involvement of Greeceand Cyprus in recent drills with Israel and Egypt.
The drill this week involved the Pakistan Navy’s Alamgir, an Oliver HazardPerry-class frigate along Greece’s territorial waters off Kastellorizo andnorth of Rhodes.
It came a week after a Pakistani P-3 naval aircraft participated in theDogu Akdeniz exercise in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean.
Defense sources in Greece regard the Pakistani Navy as part of Turkey’sattempt to prove that it has military alliances and is not an isolatedforce in the region.
The cooperation between Ankara and Islamabad is becoming increasinglysystematic with bilateral military exercises dubbed Turgutreis. Earlierthis year, the bilateral exercises took place in the Indian Ocean offPakistan and since last month have moved to the Eastern Mediterranean.
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Pakistan’s frigate is also expected to participate in the Turkish exerciseMediterranean Shield in the coming weeks, which the Turkish Navy is alreadytouting as a significant indication of its might.
Greece meanwhile is boosting its cooperation with Israel among otherregional allies. Greece and Israel are cooperating in a military exercisecode-named Niriis involving two Israeli Navy missile boats and a team ofits special forces. That exercise follows the joint training of Greek andIsraeli forces in an exercise code-named Minotaur off Crete.
Separately, Turkey’s Energy Minister Fatih Donmez said on Friday that thecountry has launched a fourth drilling operation in the EasternMediterranean, while stressing that, as a guarantor power on Cyprus, Ankarawill protect the rights of Turkish Cypriots on the divided island. “We arecurrently conducting the fourth drilling in the Eastern Mediterranean.We’ll keep drilling until we find [hydrocarbons],” Donmez said.
