Turkey leads Blue Whale 2020 Invitation Exercises

MUĞLA-Anadolu Agency

The Turkish-led Blue Whale-2020 Invitation Exercises are underway in the Eastern Mediterranean.

As part of exercises planned by the fleet command, a briefing was given to observers and the media at the Aksaz Naval Base Command Guest House in Marmaris district of Muğla Province.

In 2020, in addition to the Naval Forces, Bulgarian, Spanish, Romanian ships, NATO Maritime Group 2 (SNMG2) and elements from the US and Pakistani naval forces participated in the exercise, said Naval Commander Admiral Ercüment Tatlıoğlu.

"I would like to thank the naval forces of the guest countries who participated in the exercise despite the pandemic throughout the world,” said Tatlıoğlu.

“I fully believe that valuable gains will be achieved and successful results will be obtained in the inspection and fire activities carried out with the Blue Whale Exercise.”

The Blue Whale-2020 Exercise hosted by Turkey is a submarine Defense War Invitation Exercise conducted by the Navy Command, said Submarine Fleet Commander Rear Admiral Hasan Çankaya.

The seventh exercise, which will be held this year, will be conducted in the Eastern Mediterranean until Nov.10 with the participation of NATO and friendly and allied naval elements.

The exercise aims to test NATO procedures to improve the knowledge and skills of participating units and commanders in antisubmarine warfare, raise preparedness levels for real operations and missions, and increase their ability to perform joint operations, Çankaya noted.