Turkey and Greece, which are experiencing high tensions in the eastern Mediterranean and Aegean, met in the eastern Mediterranean.

In addition to the Aegean sea and airspace disputes, Turkey and Greece experiencing high tensions between them due to natural gas parcels in the Mediterranean. Although high tensions, both countires performed joint exercises in the eastern Mediterranean. Two Passing Exercise (PASSEX) were held on January 19th and 20th in order to increase situational awareness at sea within the scope of Standing NATO Maritime Group-2 (SNMG-2). TCG Oruçreis (F 245), ITS Carabiniere (F 593), FGS Hamburg (F 220) and Greek Frigate HS Limnos (F 451) joined the PASSEX Activities on January 19. In the second leg of the trainings, SNMG-2 platforms carried out PASSEX on January 20 with the TCG Salihreis (F 246) frigate . SNMG-2 ships are also planned to port visit in Mersin on January 24-26.

PASSEX is carried out in order to increase the coordination of co-operability and improve the ability to communicate in warfare situations or humanitarian missions of different navies. Within the scope of PASSEX, besides modern capabilities such as digital communication and target acquisition, trainings on basic maritime skills such as flashlight communication, semaphore and flaghoist trainings are also experienced.