Turkish Air Force delegation visits the 115th Combat Wing at Souda under the Greece–Turkey confidence-building measures

A delegation of the Turkish Air Force Command (Hava Kuvvetleri Komutanlığı) visited the 115 Combat Wing at Souda, Crete, as part of the 2026 Confidence-Building Measures (CBMs) between Greece and Turkey. The visit was made public by Turkey’s Ministry of National Defence on the evening of Saturday, November 14, in a post on its official X account. The delegation came from the 1st Main Jet Base (1’inci Ana Jet Üs Komutanlığı) at Eskişehir and stayed on the island from Monday, November 9, to Wednesday, November 11. Ankara thus announced the contact three days after it ended.

In the announcement, Ankara describes the visit as “important” and links it to the 2026 Implementation Plan of the Turkey–Greece CBMs. The aim, according to the Turkish ministry, is to develop military relations between the two countries and strengthen the climate of confidence. The post was accompanied by a photograph of the Turkish officers with their Greek counterparts in front of the Wing’s headquarters. The announcement does not name the head of the delegation or describe the programme of the visit.

The visit to Crete comes a week after the three-day visit of the Hellenic Tactical Air Command chief to Eskişehir, from Tuesday, November 3, to Thursday, November 5, when Air Vice Marshal (Ret.) Panagiotis Georgakopoulos met the commander of the Turkish Combat Air Forces Command. Within two weeks, officers of the two air forces have thus been at each other’s facilities, with Eskişehir figuring in both contacts.

The 2026 CBM programme also includes contacts on the naval side. On Wednesday, July 8, the Fleet Commander, Vice Admiral Christos Sasiakos, received his Turkish counterpart, Admiral Kadir Yıldız, at the Fleet Headquarters at the Salamis Naval Base, as announced by the Hellenic Navy. On Wednesday, October 14, delegations of the two navies met in Ankara, led on the Greek side by Captain Nektarios Gogos, Director of Branch A of the Hellenic Navy General Staff, and on the Turkish side by Rear Admiral Gökçen Fırat. The Greek delegation also visited the Greek embassy, according to the Hellenic Navy.

The framework of the contacts is set in the rounds of consultations between the delegations of the two countries. The latest took place on October 9 in Chania, hosted by the Greek Ministry of National Defence. Ambassadors, senior officers and political officials reviewed the measures agreed for 2026 and the implementation plan for 2027. The Turkish ministry had described the climate of that meeting as positive and announced that Turkey will host the next round.