Turkiye and Egypt plan to enhance relations on military cooperation with a naval drill in the Mediterranean Sea on 22–26 September at “Friendship at Sea”.
Turkish Egyptian relations mark a new stage in the Mediterranean Sea shifting East Med dynamics. Ankara and Cairo signal the desire to normalise relations. The first joint naval exercise in 13 years is therefore called “Türkiye–Egypt Friendship Sea Naval Special Exercise,” or in Arabic “Bahr El Sadaka.”
Two countries' relations started to deteriorate following the Arab Spring as Turkiye supported the Hosni Mubarak and Muhammad Mursi rule. It did not show a hand to shake Sisi’s hand. After a long break, the two sides signalled a rapprochement policy, and ambassadors were appointed simultaneously.
The Turkish Navy will participate with frigates TCG Oruçreis F-215 and TCG Gediz F-495, fast attack craft TCG İmbat P-335 and TCG Bora P-339, and the submarine TCG Gür S-57, while the Air Force will provide two F-16 fighter jets. The TCG Oruçreis stands with its new modernised silhouette. The ship underwent a major modernisation program called Barbaros MLU.
In 2020, Egypt and Greece signed the EEZ agreement in Cairo. Türkiye thinks that Egypt should have bigger EEZ zones. Because the Eastern Mediterranean has a lot of energy resources and competing maritime claims, the exercise is quite important. Egypt's involvement, after years of tighter ties with Greece and the Greek Cypriot Administration, might mean that the dynamics in the area are changing.
The German company ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) designed the MEKO A-200 EN–class frigates that the Egyptian Navy uses.
TCG Oruçreis is a MEKO 200–class ship. With Barbaros MLU, Turkiye modernised the ship without losing any capacity.
Author: Özgür Ekşi
