Turkish navy to conduct exercises in the Aegean during talks

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is due in Athens for talks on Friday amid a tense atmosphere between Greece and Turkey, which has been exacerbated by the neighboring country’s decision to carry out naval exercises in the Aegean while discussions take place in the Greek capital.

Turkish ships and submarines have been conducting exercises in the northern and southeastern Aegean, near the Greek islands of Limnos, Kastelorizo, Ro and Strongyli since the start of the week.

Although the operations had been planned much earlier, the maritime order (also known as a Navtex) marking out the area was only issued last week, suggesting that Turkey intended for the exercises to take place at the same time as leaders are due to meet in Athens for the two-day High-Level Cooperation Council.

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