ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Navy’s Special Services Group and Turkish Navy’s Special Forces, Su Alti Taarruz, concluded a bilateral exercise Ayyildiz-2019 in Karachi.

It was the 12th exercise of Ayyildiz series, which continued for 12 days. The bilateral exercises have been regularly conducted between Pakistan and Turkey on an annual basis, a press release issued here by Directorate of Public Relations (Navy) said.

The aim of the exercise was to strengthen military relationships, improve coordination, interoperability and exchange of professional expertise in Special Operations Forces’ domain.

Personnel from both navies mutually benefited from the exercise which included anti-terrorism operations, rescue and hostage operations, counter-terrorism in maritime domain and intelligence-based operations.

Pakistan and Turkey enjoy strong bilateral relations based on foundations of brotherhood and friendship. Pakistani and Turkish defence forces interact regularly on various forums. Both the navies have been actively collaborating in various professional interactions, including multilateral and bilateral exercises.

The Turkish Navy is also a regular participant of AMAN series of multinational maritime exercises organised biennially by the Pakistan Navy since 2007.

Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2019