Turkish media outlets have sharply criticized a joint naval exercise conducted by Greece and Israel in the northern Cretan Sea, describing the activity as a “dirty alliance” and warning of rising tensions in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean.
The exercise, held around 21 October 2026, focused on acceptance firings of Israeli SPIKE NLOS and ER guided missiles by the Hellenic Navy. Greek vessels, including a Machitis-class gunboat and a Mark V special operations craft, launched the missiles. The drill culminated in the sinking of the decommissioned Greek frigate Bouboulina (F-463), which was struck by SPIKE missiles and then finished off by a heavy SUT torpedo fired from a Greek submarine.
Senior officers attended the event, including Hellenic National Defence General Staff Chief General Dimitrios Houpis, Hellenic Navy Chief Vice Admiral Dimitrios-Eleftherios Kataras, and Israeli Navy Chief Vice Admiral Eyal Harel. Frigates, submarines, missile boats, helicopters, special operations units, and air assets from both countries participated. The exercise also served to improve interoperability between the two navies.
Coverage in Turkish media was notably critical. CNN Türk ran the headline “Missiles from Israel, firings from Greece! Dirty alliance north of Crete,” framing the drill as heightened military activity in the Eastern Mediterranean and highlighting Greece’s use of Israeli weapons systems. The newspaper Akşam used similar language, calling the cooperation a “dirty alliance in the Eastern Mediterranean” and repeating the phrase “Missiles from Israel, firings from Greece.”
The pro-government newspaper Star was even more pointed, headlining: “A move that will increase tension in the Aegean! Greece fired the missiles it bought from Israel.” It focused on the operational use of the SPIKE NLOS systems and linked the exercise to closer Athens-Tel Aviv military ties.
By contrast, Habertürk and the Anadolu Agency adopted a more restrained tone, simply reporting that Greece and Israel had conducted a joint training exercise and concentrating on its military aspects without using the “dirty alliance” label.
The drill took place a day after the parliament in eastern Libya ratified a 2019 maritime memorandum with Turkey—an agreement rejected by Greece and condemned by Israel. It also fits into a broader pattern of deepening Greek-Israeli defense cooperation, which includes recent deals such as the multi-billion-euro “Achilles Shield” air and missile defense package.
Turkish outlets presented the exercise as a signal of increased military coordination between Athens and Jerusalem in a region already marked by competing maritime claims and energy projects.
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