Turkey reserves area in Aegean for military exercises

Turkey has issued a maritime order, or NAVTEX, to reserve a sea area between the islands of Psara, Skyros and Evia for naval exercises, including the firing of live ammunition.

Although the area in question is in international waters, the NAVTEX reserving it for use by Turkey for much of the remainder of July and August goes against one of the first confidence-building measures that Athens and Ankara had agreed several years ago for an unofficial moratorium on military exercises during the summer.

Athens does not consider the maritime order a cause for particular concern, but does believe that it is symptomatic of the current lack of goodwill.