Greece's forces started, on Monday, a five-day joint military exercise with troops of the United States of America (USA). The forces will use tanks in areas near the land border with Turkey.
According to the Greek newspaper "Ethnos", the joint Greek-American tank exercises will be held from September 14th to September 18th at the Xanthi Training Center.
The best American tank ABRAMS modified for the M1A2 will participate in the exercises.
The Greek newspaper pointed out that there will be a competition between the tank crews participating in the maneuvers in the art of driving and accuracy of shooting (Tank Challenge 2020), organized by the Xanthi IV Corps of the Greek Army.
Earlier, the Greek "Open TV" channel indicated that the joint exercises of Greece and the United States with the participation of tanks and armored vehicles would be held in order to maintain the utmost readiness of the two armies.
The channel reported that this is the first time that Americans participate in such ground exercises in northeastern Greece. Units from France and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) participate in these military exercises.
The joint Greek-American tank exercises were announced on September 8 amid reports from Ankara that 40 Turkish tanks had been transferred to the border with Greece.
Turkey has massed its forces on its border with Greece, and transferred tanks from the southeastern province of Hatay to the northwestern province of Edirne, which borders Greece, amid escalating tension between the two countries in the eastern Mediterranean.
The Turkish IHA agency quoted military sources as saying that two convoys carrying equipment and about 40 tanks left the Rehaniyeh area in Hatay Governorate, on the border with Syria. It is expected that these tanks will be sent to Edirne by train.
Turkish local media published clips of trucks carrying tanks from the regions of Reyhanli and Komlu in Hatay .
No official statement has yet been issued by the Turkish Ministry of Defense in this regard, but the semi-official Anatolia Agency later quoted unnamed "military sources" as denying sending tanks to the border with Greece.
The sources indicated that there is no sending of any reinforcements to the Greek borders.
They stressed that the military movements are a planned action by the leadership of the Second Turkish, Army in Malatya, southeast of Turkey.
This comes in light of the tension between Ankara and Athens, and the attempts to push them to negotiate, after a naval mobilization in the disputed waters, and aerial demonstrations of the force over the Aegean and Mediterranean seas, which led to direct friction.
In recent weeks, relations between Turkey and Greece, both members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization ( NATO), have deteriorated sharply, due to the Turkish ship Oruç Reis seismic surveys in the eastern Mediterranean and the search for raw wealth there. Greece considers this area as part of its exclusive economic zone.
The Greek armed forces were put on high alert.
Turkey also conducts oil and gas exploration operations in the area that Cyprus considers as its exclusive economic zone.
Greece and Turkey trade spars and accuse each other of signing illegal agreements to demarcate the borders of maritime areas, which do not take into account the interests of the other party.
The Greek Foreign Minister, Nikos Dendias, confirmed that his country is not engaged in negotiations with Turkey on the eastern Mediterranean, saying that dialogue is possible only after the withdrawal of Turkish ships from the continental shelf of Greece.
Dendias made on Friday after a meeting with the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, in New York.
Dendias commented on the document presented by the Secretary-General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, saying , that negotiations with Turkey will only possible after deescalate tensions between the two countries.
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