Turkey Carries Out Military Exercises with NATO in Eastern Mediterranean

Turkey has conducted on Saturday joint naval exercises with NATO in the eastern Mediterranean, according to the Turkish Ministry of Defense.

In a brief statement posted on Twitter, the ministry said that the second NATO naval task group, consisting of the Turkish frigates "Gaziantep" and the Spanish "Cristóbal Colón" had conducted transitional exercises in the eastern Mediterranean, along with the Turkish frigate "Gokova".

 This operation comes at a time when relations between Turkey and the rest of the alliance are experiencing tense tensions over several issues, including Turkish-Greek disputes over energy resources in the Mediterranean and Ankara's purchase of Russian S-400 missile systems, in addition to the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Earlier on Saturday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that NATO had refused to provide his country with naval military equipment because of Turkey's support for Azerbaijan.