The Turkish Navy launched a large-scale military exercise on Sept. 20 involving 100 naval vessels, 50 aircraft and 14,000 personnel across the eastern Mediterranean, the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea.
Dubbed “Denizkurdu-I” (Sea Wolf-I), the exercise will run through Sept. 25 and involve 100 naval assets from the Turkish Armed Forces’ naval inventory, including frigates, corvettes and fast attack craft.
Some 14,000 personnel will take part in training exercises based on challenging operational scenarios. Spanning a vast area from the Black Sea through the Marmara and Aegean seas to the eastern
Mediterranean, the drill will see naval units simultaneously conduct operational readiness training and live-fire exercises.
One of the exercise’s key events is the observer day, scheduled to be held aboard the TCG Anadolu in the eastern Mediterranean on Sept. 24.
Held twice a year in two phases, “Denizkurdu-I” and “Denizkurdu-II,” the Sea Wolf exercises are among the largest maritime drills in the Turkish Armed Forces’ training calendar. They are designed to demonstrate Türkiye’s naval capabilities and its capacity to coordinate operations across multiple maritime theaters, stretching from the Black Sea to the Aegean and Mediterranean.
The exercise comes amid heightened tensions between Türkiye and Greece over longstanding disputes concerning Aegean maritime boundaries and the military status of Greek islands located just off the Turkish coast.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ recent trip to Meis — the closest Greek island to the Turkish mainland— has drawn a sharp reaction from Ankara after he toured military facilities on the legally demilitarized isle.
