Commander of the Navy, Admiral Ercument Tatlioglu, came to the Naval Officers Professional School at Karamurselbey Training Center in Altinova District of Yalova within the scope of the “133rd Anniversary of the Founding of Naval Officers Schools” events. Within the scope of the ceremony, as the officer cadets passed by, aircraft and helicopters of the Navy performed a salute. While watching the show, Commander of the Navy Admiral Ercument Tatlioglu delivered a speech in the cinema and conference hall of Martyr Sailor Colonel Turhan Subaşı. Noting that there have been very important economic developments in the Black Sea recently, Tatlioglu said: “So far, 710 billion cubic meters of natural gas have been found in the western Black Sea. The Black Sea was very important to us indeed. It currently occupies a more important position for us economically. We are constantly present to celebrate TPAO’s activities in the Black Sea. “The presence of our ships in the Black Sea continues to increase,” he said.
“NATO is trying to take precautions in the Black Sea, and we don’t want that.”
In his speech, Tatlioglu pointed out that there are various problems in the Black Sea region and said:
“The tensions that began with Georgia and Russia in 2008, the problems of South Ossetia and North Ossetia, the same problems in Abkhazia, the occupation of Crimea in 2014, the Kerch Strait in 2018, and the Ukrainian-Russian war that began in 2022, are all new.” . Issues of geopolitical conflict in the Black Sea began an era. As you know, NATO is trying to take some action in the Black Sea. However, we declare that we will take these measures ourselves in the Black Sea and we declare that we do not want NATO or America in the Black Sea. You must have followed him in the media recently. There are more than 400 mines spilled in the Black Sea due to the Ukrainian-Russian war. 17 of these mines reached our shores. We couldn’t detect 2 of them. One of them exploded in Kastamonu Side and the other exploded at the entrance to Karadeniz Eregli Port. These mines are very dangerous.
“They should not turn the Black Sea into the Middle East”
We are fighting these mines in the Black Sea. It’s very dangerous in two ways, first, as I just mentioned, there are TPAO ships operating in that area. If they hit, we will lose our friends working on the open drilling and natural gas vessels below. Therefore, we are in a very serious conflict in the Black Sea. At the same time, as you know, we guarantee the security of the Black Sea “grain corridor”. Although the grain corridor will be closed in 2023, attempts to reopen it are continuing, and we as our navy are eliminating all ship lanes in this grain corridor and all these dangers such as mines in the Black Sea. Our goal is to comply with Montreux. We have guaranteed all security in the Black Sea. We, as Turkey, guarantee security in the Black Sea. They should not turn the Black Sea into the Middle East. Therefore, we do not want any country or NATO to enter the Black Sea.”
“Greece’s goal is to play a regional leadership role.”
Speaking about the importance of the Navy, Tatlıoğlu said:
“The period when the Ottoman Empire was at its strongest was when the Navy was at its strongest. When the Ottoman Empire reduced the importance it gave to the sea and its sailors, territorial losses began. Since our navy was weak, our islands in the Aegean Sea were given to Greece without Fire a single bullet. Greece does not want to be complacent about these matters. The places they show on their maps as “our places” also include our regions, just like on the screen. As you know, there are 8 main problems between us and Greece. 7 of them are about us. It is about the Navy. Instead of making efforts to resolve these issues, Greece is constantly engaging in activities that escalate tensions. There are 23 islands with non-military status. And they have armed 19 of them. We have disputed islands and rocks, their sovereignty and belonging. They are trying to present these islands as Theirs by arranging visits as if they were their own islands. On the one hand, they try to dictate their own strategies when they find a suitable environment. For example, Greece increased its territorial waters in the west to 12 miles in 2020. He is trying to get this message across; “If I find the opportunity, I will increase it to 12 miles in the Aegean Sea.” It is trying to claim islands and rocks in the Aegean Sea with the support of the European Union. In short, Greece’s goal is to assume a regional leadership role.
“We are almost at the same level with Greece.”
Noting that the navy needs further development, Tatlioglu said: “We have a good naval air force, including 25 drones, 12 maritime patrol aircraft, 3 general-purpose aircraft and 41 helicopters.” While Greece was at a lower level than us in terms of number of ships, we are now at approximately the same level. “So, we need ships, we need different platforms,” he said.
TB3 will be ready at the end of the year
Noting that Turkey is a brand in the field of unmanned aerial vehicles, Tatlioglu said: “But we are also very good at marine unmanned aerial vehicles. We will receive the fourth type at the end of this year. Salvo will join the inventory at IDA next year. We are also working On Kamikaze drones. TB2s, ANKAs, AKSUNGURs are currently in use. The TB3s that we will be using on the Anatolia will be ready at the end of this year. We learned that he has had positive results from his flights. They do not offer guided bullets even though we are paying for them “So we made our own guided missile. Our Atmaca guided missile is much better than the Harpoon guided missile and we have added it to the inventory. “Mass production is continuing,” he said.