Turkish fighter jets will patrol the skies over Europe

Turkey will join NATO’s mission to strengthen the alliance’s eastern borders and deter Russia, including by patrolling airspace in Europe.

This was reported by Reuters, citing the Turkish Ministry of Defense.

The Turkish Air Force will initially deploy fighter jets to Estonia. The contingent will be there from August to November. After that, Turkish planes will patrol the skies over Romania from December this year until March 2027.

The Turkish Ministry of Defense noted that the country’s participation in NATO missions on the eastern flank is systematic. Turkish aviation has already participated in enhanced patrols of Polish airspace in the summer of 2021, as well as Romania from November 2023 to April 2024.

The new phase of the deployment of Turkish fighter jets comes amid increased NATO defensive measures following a series of violations of the alliance’s airspace by Russia.

As previously reported, Turkey has declared its readiness to send its troops to Ukraine as part of a peacekeeping contingent, but only under clearly defined conditions.

As a reminder, near the coast of the Turkish province of Kastamonu, a drone attacked the Elbus oil tanker, which was heading towards the Russian port of Novorossiysk.