Turkey, approaching the elections on May 14, does not forget and in no way leaves aside the revisionist doctrine of the Blue Homeland, and in this context, despite the fact that it has been said that the exercises will be limited, especially as we head towards the summer, such a thing does not seems to be the case.
The headquarters of the Turkish fleet announced that the submarine forces will go to the Eastern Mediterranean in order to practice submarine rescue procedures.
In its post, the Turkish Ministry of Defense states specifically: "Exercise KURTARAN-2023 (Rescue), which will be conducted by the Command of our Naval Forces in the Eastern Mediterranean between 05-12 May 2023, began on 05 May 2023 with the "Pre -navigation and Port Orientation Training" attended by international observers at the Aksaz Naval Base Command".
In a statement, the Turkish ministry states in more detail:
"EXERCISE KURTARAN-2023
1. The KURTARAN-2023 exercise will be conducted by the Naval Forces Command in the Eastern Mediterranean between May 5-12, 2023.
2. As part of the exercise in which a rescue operation will be conducted for a submarine that has lost its ability to surface.
a) Training for underwater research, provision of life support and personnel rescue,
b) Exchange of knowledge and experience related to submarine rescue activities with observers from other countries that will participate in the exercise,
c) It aims to develop interoperability procedures with other Forces Commands and Public Bodies.
A US naval cooperation aircraft participated in the 3rd exercise. Observer from Argentina, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Bulgaria, Algeria, Indonesia, South Africa, Republic of Korea, Libya, Malaysia, Poland, Romania, Singapore.
Sudanese and Omani officers and Headquarters and a diving team from Romania will participate, a total of 37 people from 17 countries.
In the 4th Exercise KURTARAN-2023. In addition to elements of the Naval Forces Command, different elements from the Land Forces Command, the Air Force Command and the Coast Guard Command will serve."
Although in the announcements of the Turkish Ministry of Defense it states that its submarines will go to the Eastern Mediterranean from the relevant NAVTEX that has been issued, the only thing that is certain is that the submarine(s) that will participate in this exercise will not go much further outside the Gulf of Aksaz as only in this area a space has been reserved from 4th to 12th May.
