Two Romanian naval ships participating in largest naval exercise conducted by Turkey on four seas

Two Romanian naval ships are taking part this week in sea maneuvers in the company of two Turkish naval ships in the Mavi Vatan 19, the largest joint drill conducted by the Turkish Navy in the Black Sea, the Sea of Marmara, Mediterranean Sea and Aegean Sea, according to a press statement released by the Romanian Navy Staff (SMFN).

The Rear-Admiral Eustatiu Sebastian-class corvette and the Lieutenant Dimitrie Nicolescu minesweeper will be performing on Friday, March 8, in the Black Sea territorial and international waters, in some sequences of the Mavi Vatan Exercise, Turkey's largest joint navy exercise attended by 96 ships and seven submarines.

In the Black Sea sequences, the Romanian crews of the Eustatiu Sebastian and Lieutenant Dimitrie Nicolescu will carry out exercises that deter asymmetric threats in Romanian and international waters along with the TGC Yildirim frigate and the TCG Erdek minesweeper of the Turkish Navy.

The activity carried out by the Romanian and Turkish military navy troops is part of the provisions of the strategic partnership between Romania and Turkey concluded in 2011 that is designed to contribute to the development of ways to ensure stability and security in the Black Sea region. As part of Europe and a bridge to Central Asia and Afghanistan, the Black Sea area is said to be important to the stability of the North Atlantic Alliance and of the three NATO member states in the area - Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey - as recent history has demonstrated that the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova, three non-NATO member states in the area, have been violated by the Russian Federation, according to SMFN.

"Bilateral training actions involving the Romanian Navy are part of the set of measures to deter threats and risks to the security of NATO states, adopted at the Brussels Summit in 2018."