MUĞLA - Anatolia News Agency
Soldiers pose with Turkish, German and NATO flags during the ceremony.
The command of the Standing
NATO Maritime Group-2 (SNMG-2) was handed over to Germany from Turkey, in a ceremony at the Aksaz Naval Base in the western town of Marmaris on June 15.
Only a few ship hijacking incidents had taken place in
Somalia during Turkey’s period of duty, Rear Admiral Sinan Azmi Tosun said at the opening of the ceremony. Tosun, who handed over the mission to his
German colleague Thorsten Kahler, said that during Turkey’s year-long duty, six and a half months had been spent in
Somalia fighting successfully against sea pirates.
Tosun said they were proud that sea piracy had decreased by 65 percent during Turkey’s duty, thanks to their successful fight against it. “We conducted operations against 10 sea pirate ships and arrested 175 sea pirates … A total of 15
NATO ships were involved in operations during Turkey’s command,” he said.
The ceremony ended after the Turkish troops handed over the
NATO flag to their
German counterparts, who will now command operations.
June/16/2012