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Ministry of National Defense (MSB) Press and Public Relations Advisor Rear Admiral Zeki Aktürk held a weekly information meeting at the Ministry’s Martyr Journalist Hasan Tahsin Hall. Aktürk spoke briefly as follows:
“As the Ministry of National Defense, within the scope of April 23 National Sovereignty and Children’s Day and the 104th anniversary of the opening of our Veteran Assembly, our Minister came together with the precious children of our martyrs and veterans and the TRT Children’s Choir singing the ‘Homeland Anthem’ at our Ministry, together with the command level. He attended the ceremony held at the First Turkish Grand National Assembly in Ulus, Ankara, and the special session and reception in the Parliament. Our Naval Forces visited 23 ports with 23 ships. SOLOTÜRK in Çanakkale, Turkish Stars Acrobatics Team show in Antalya, as well as Düzce 3 combat aircraft passed through. We once again celebrate the 104th anniversary of the opening of our Gazi Assembly with April 23 National Sovereignty and Children’s Day, which we celebrate with great enthusiasm and many events with our nation.
On the 109th anniversary of the Çanakkale Land Battles, we commemorate our eternal commander-in-chief, Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, our heroes who made Çanakkale impassable, and all our martyrs and veterans with mercy, gratitude and respect. Within the scope of the anniversary of the Çanakkale Land Battles and the 57th Regiment Loyalty March Event, demonstration flights are being carried out by SOLOTÜRK in Çanakkale (Martyrs’ Monument) on 24-25 April.
“802 TERRORISTS HAVE BEEN NUTRALIZED SINCE JANUARY 1, 2024”
Our Turkish Armed Forces fight against terrorism; It continues with an increasing impact and intense pressure, at an unusual and unpredictable level, in line with the requirements of the field. In this context, including the north of Iraq and Syria; 54 terrorists have been neutralized in the last week, and 802 terrorists have been neutralized since January 1, 2024, 360 in the north of Iraq and 442 in the north of Syria. As a result of our determined operations, two more PKK terrorists who escaped from their shelters in the north of Iraq surrendered to our Border Patrol Station in Habur on April 21.
“284 PEOPLE WHO TRIED TO CROSS OUR BORDERS ILLEGALLY IN THE LAST WEEK WERE CAUGHT”
In our borders, where the opportunities and capabilities of our troops are constantly improved and protected by world-class and technology-intensive systems; In the last week, 284 people, including 6 members of a terrorist organization, who tried to cross the border illegally were caught, and 2,291 people were prevented before crossing the border. Thus, since January 1, the number of people caught trying to cross our borders illegally has increased to 2 thousand 769, and the number of people blocked before crossing the border has increased to 48 thousand 596.
BILATERAL RELATIONS FROM THE MINISTRY
Dear Minister; He accompanied our President’s visit to Iraq on April 22, received the President of Vietnam Defense Industry on April 24, and had a meeting with the Australian Minister of Defense in Gallipoli/Çanakkale on the same day, where defense and security issues were discussed. Our Minister will hold talks with his counterpart in Romania, where he is on an official visit yesterday (April 24) and today (April 25), on NATO and regional security issues, especially bilateral and military relations. Our Chief of General Staff, who paid an official visit to Pakistan on 18-19 April, held bilateral and inter-delegation meetings, was received by the Minister of Defense and was awarded the ‘Pakistan Privilege Medal’ by the President of Pakistan for his contributions to the relations between the two countries and the cooperation between the armed forces. has been deposited.
Our Turkish Armed Forces; It works successfully in many geographies within the framework of bilateral relations and international missions; It makes significant contributions to regional and global peace and stability. During the visit to Iraq under the leadership of our President; ‘Military Training Cooperation Memorandum of Understanding’ and ‘Military Health Field Training and Cooperation Protocol’ were signed. We consider that with the signing of the agreements, the areas of military education cooperation will expand and our military relations will be taken to a higher level. In addition, with the ‘Memorandum of Understanding on the Strategic Framework’ signed during the visit, we aim for our countries to progress on a more solid ground in the fight against terrorism through cooperation that will become permanent. We welcome the decision taken by Iraq to declare the PKK terrorist organization as a ‘banned organisation’, and we expect this perception to evolve towards being declared a ‘terrorist organisation’.
The Confidence Building Measures Meeting between the delegations of Türkiye and Greece was held in Athens on 22 April. The meeting had a positive atmosphere; The previously agreed Confidence Building Measures for 2024 and the activities to be included in the 2025 implementation plan were discussed, and it was decided to hold the next meeting in Turkey. In the face of the attacks launched by Israel against Gaza, our country’s priority is to stop the attacks and establish a permanent ceasefire as soon as possible for the sake of regional peace. There is no excuse for the killing and displacement of innocent Palestinians, especially children. Both the countries in the region and the international community should raise their voices against this brutality and should not forget that this injustice and unlawfulness may reverberate all over the world. Moreover; “We once again commemorate with mercy the defenseless and innocent Turks who were massacred by Armenians in the events distorted as the so-called Armenian genocide.”
TRAINING-EXERCISE ACTIVITIES / INTERNATIONAL MISSIONS
Our Turkish Armed Forces continues its training and exercise activities simultaneously with all its current operations and missions.
In this context; Participation was made in the OLIVES NOIRES-2024 exercises, held in France for Mine Operations, and the SEA SHIELD-2024 exercises, hosted by Romania, for Basic Naval Operations in the Western Black Sea.
DESERT FLAG-9/2024 in the United Arab Emirates, LOCKED SHIELDS-24 in Estonia, Aid to Passenger Ships in Danger-2024 in Algeria, KURTARAN-2024 exercises in Aksaz/Muğla and National Anatolian Eagle Training were carried out. is done.
The Computer Aided Command Post Phase of EFES-2024, one of the largest planned exercises of our Turkish Armed Forces, started today (April 25) and will continue until May 8. The Actual Firing Phase of the exercise in question will be held between 09-30 May. The exercise, which has been reported to be attended by 1,567 personnel from 49 countries so far, will be the EFES exercise with the largest participation in recent years.
NEPTUNE STRIKE 24.1 activity will be held in Albania between 26 April and 10 May within the scope of NATO’s Enhanced Vigilance Activities, and SPANISH MINEX-2024 exercises will be held in Spain between 29 April and 10 May within the scope of Mine Operation training.
Participation will be made for the first time in the NEPTUNE STRIKE activity between 26-30 April with the Anatolian Task Group under the leadership of TCG Anadolu.
The ship BLAS DE LEZO belonging to the Spanish Navy made a port visit to Izmir, the ship JUAN CARLOS to Istanbul, the ship SANGRAM belonging to the Bangladesh Navy to Mersin, and the ship GROMITZ belonging to the German Navy to Aksaz.
Our TCG KINALIADA corvette, which will visit 20 countries and 24 ports within the scope of the 100th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Turkey and Japan and the 134th anniversary of the frigate ERTUĞRUL’s voyage to Japan, arrived in Mogadishu/Somalia on 23 April, after Jeddah and Djibouti.
Our TCG KINALIADA corvette, which made a port visit in Somalia, was visited by the President of Somalia.
The President of Somalia, who honored our ship by personally visiting it, emphasized the friendship, brotherhood and strategic partnership between the two countries in his speech.
On this occasion, we emphasize once again that our training, consultancy and support activities to ensure security and stability in Somalia will continue increasingly.
Our TCG KINALIADA corvette will start sailing towards the next port, the Maldives, today and continue its journey to Japan.
Within the scope of NATO Joint Air and Naval Commands cooperation; 4 of our F-16 aircraft participated in the Air Defense Training conducted by the Combat Task Force in the Eastern Mediterranean on April 22.
Tomorrow (April 26), interviews and signing events will be held by our SOLOTÜRK pilots at Çanakkale 18 Mart University, and on April 27 by our Turkish Stars at our Air Force Museum in Yeşilköy/Istanbul. All our people are invited to these events.
DEFENSE INDUSTRY / NEW WEAPON SYSTEMS IN THE INVENTORY
The effectiveness and deterrence of our Turkish Armed Forces is increasing with the defense industry products equipped with local, national and modern technology developed under the leadership of our President. In this context, the inspection and acceptance activities of various Portable Electronic Attack Systems (MILKAR) have been completed by our Land Forces Command.
STUDENT AND STAFF SUPPLY ACTIVITIES
Our personnel and military student recruitment/supply activities continue as planned. Applications for ‘2024 National Defense University Military Academy and Petty Officer Vocational Schools Military Student Candidate Selection Procedures’, which started on 03 April, will be completed until 10 May, and applications for ‘2024 Open Worker Recruitment to the Ministry of National Defense’, which started on 24 April, will be completed until 29 April. It will continue until.
As a result, our Turkish Armed Forces, one of the strongest armies in the world, will continue to successfully fulfill all the tasks it has undertaken with the inspiration it receives from the love and trust of our noble nation, and will continue its activities towards the establishment of global security, peace and stability, especially in our nearby geography, with increasing effort.”
PRESIDENT’S VISIT TO IRAQ AND THE FIGHT AGAINST TERRORISM
Ministry of National Defense sources, upon questions regarding the fight against terrorism within the scope of President Erdoğan’s visit to Iraq, said the following:
“Turkey-Iraq relations were discussed in a broad framework during the visit to Iraq of our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who was accompanied by our Minister. During the meetings, joint steps that we could take against terrorist organizations such as PKK, FETO, DAESH and their extensions were discussed. Along with other agreements regarding these steps, the fight against terrorism Agreements and understandings within the scope of cooperation in the field of joint struggle and security have been signed. In this context, negotiations are continuing with the Iraqi side to determine the principles of the ‘Security Joint Coordination Center’, which will be established to ensure the institutionalization and maintenance of cooperation in the fields of security, common border security and counter-terrorism. “We conveyed to them that we are ready to provide support regarding border security systems. In this context, they also came and examined our border security systems.”
VISIT OF THE PRESIDENT OF GERMANY AND RESTRICTIONS IN THE DEFENSE INDUSTRY
Ministry sources gave the following answer to questions about whether the issue of lifting restrictions on defense industry products for Turkey was on the agenda during German President Steinmeier’s visit to Ankara:
“We always state that it is not right for allies to impose restrictions or sanctions on each other and that it is against the spirit of alliance. Our expectation is that our allies will take decisions in accordance with the spirit of the alliance and the common security perspective and remove all implicit or explicit restrictions. As our esteemed President also pointed out, the coming period will be limited to restrictions with Germany.” “We hope that it will be a period in which joint work is discussed rather than discussed. We think that the Eurofighter issue will be a good start for this and we expect a positive approach from Germany.”
CONFIDENCE BUILDING MEASURES MEETING WITH GREECE
Ministry sources stated the following in response to a question regarding the details of the Confidence Building Measures Meeting held in Athens:
“The meeting was held in a friendly environment in Athens on April 22, 2024. At the meeting, the mutual activities previously agreed upon and to be carried out throughout 2024 were reviewed, and work on the 2025 Implementation Plan was initiated. In this context, 9 of the reciprocal activities to be carried out in Greece in 2025 were reviewed. Draft activities to be carried out, 9 of which were in Turkey, were discussed. It was decided that the next meeting would be held in Turkey. On the other hand, within the scope of the previously agreed 2024 Implementation Plan, a delegation from the National Defense University “He will visit the Greek National Defense College in June.”
NEPTUNE STRIKE EXERCISE TO BE CONDUCTED IN ALBANIA
Ministry sources shared the following information in response to questions regarding the ANATOLIAN TASK GROUP that will participate in the NEPTUNE STRIKE Exercise to be held in Albania:
“The ANATOLIAN TASK GROUP will participate for the first time in the 26-30 April part of the NEPTUNE STRIKE Exercise, which will be carried out in Albania within the scope of NATO’s Enhanced Vigilance Activities between 26 April and 10 May, under the leadership of TCG ANADOLU.
In the ANATOLIAN TASK GROUP; TCG ANADOLU, TCG SALİHREİS, TCG BÜYÜKADA, 2 AH-1W Attack Helicopters, 2 SH-70 General Purpose Helicopters, 1 Company Landing Team, 4 Mechanized Landing Vehicles, 8 Armored Amphibious Assault Vehicles, amphibious elements consisting of various armored vehicles and 150 personnel. “There will be 3 AS-532 Cougar Utility Helicopters affiliated with the Land Forces Command.”
