Turkey Refuses To Join Nato Maneuvers Greece Took Part In Aegean For First Time In 12 Years

Turkey refused for the first time ever Wednesday to take part in a NATO exercise in the Aegean Sea, continuing a long-standing dispute with Greece.

More than 5,000 troops, nearly 200 planes and 70 ships from Belgium, Britain, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Spain, Portugal and the United States are taking part in the 19-day “Dynamic Mix,” a large air, land and sea exercise held in the region.

The maneuvers, which got fully under way Wednesday, also will include parts of the eastern Mediterranean.

Turkey is boycotting because NATO forces based in the country were not included in the Aegean Sea part of the exercise.

Greece participated in the exercise Wednesday for the first time in 12 years. Since 1985, it had refused to participate in any NATO maneuvers in the Aegean because planners did not take into account some northern Greek islands. NATO refused to do so because of Turkish claims that international agreements do not allow the islands to be used for military purposes.

Greece and Turkey, both NATO allies, have nearly gone to war twice in the past decade because of disputes over air, sea and seabed mineral rights in the Aegean.

Adding to the complications, environmental groups want the exercise to be called off because of fears that hundreds of troops landing on Kiparissia, on the western shores of southern Greece, would harm an endangered sea turtle’s nesting area.

Greece and Turkey’s inability to see eye-to-eye was also visible in New York, at a meeting Tuesday between their two foreign ministers on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.

“As far as the result of the meeting is concerned, there was no result,” said Greek government spokesman Dimitris Reppas, who noted the sticking point was the Aegean.