Turkish Air Force

A Turkish military jet trainer crashed on April 9 in the Aegean Sea, the Turkish Defense Ministry said.

According to a ministry statement, the two pilots of the KT-1 type plane that crashed during its regular training flight were rescued by Turkish Coast Guard teams.

The plane crashed due to engine failure, it said.

A Turkish pilot was killed when a military plane crashed on April 7 in central Turkey, according to the National Defense Ministry.

"An NF-5 aircraft belonging to our Air Force, which was on a training flight in [central] Konya, suffered an accident at 14:15 [1115 GMT] for an unknown reason," the ministry said on Twitter.

A Turkish flag in the city of Istanbul, May 2020. Photo: EPA-EFE/ERDEM SAHIN

The arrests came after prosecutors in the city of Izmir on Tuesday ordered the detention of 238 serving and former military officers including high-ranking soldiers.

A total of 218 of the suspects are still serving in various branches of the Turkish Armed Forces and Gendarmerie.

Arrested soldiers who participated in the 2016 attempted coup d'etat in Turkey, are accompany by Turkish soldiers as they arrive at the court inside of the Sincan Prison before trial in Ankara, Turkey, 01 August 2017. Photo: EPA/TUMAY BERKIN

The Turkish Air Force on June 1 marked its 109th anniversary.

Marking the occasion, Defense Minister Hulusi Akar released a message lauding the air force's modern technology and top-flight personnel with over a century of experience.

Romanian, Bulgarian and Turkish jets, all part of the NATO Air Policing, intercepted a Russian aircraft on May 19, which was flying close to the NATO air space, the Allied Command Operations (ACO) said.

According to a written statement by NATO Allied Air Command on May 21, the Alliance Quick Reacting Alert jets were dispatched to prevent Russia from entering the air space.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has sent a letter to his U.S. counterpart, Donald Trump, along with the medical aid Turkey delivered.

The Turkish president said he hoped Turkey's medical aid sent to the U.S. will help citizens recover from COVID-19.

The resumption of Turkish drilling inside Cyprus' continental shelf by the Yavuz drillship and Ankara's behavior in the Aegean was raised at Thursday's European Union summit by both Cyprus President Nikos Anastasiades and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis despite the fact that the issue was not on the agenda.

As the global coronavirus spreads and with a death toll of over 20,000 Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is ratcheting up tensions with Greece with a military escalation.

On a symbolic trip to the island of Kasos, which Turkish Air Force jets have repeatedly flown over of late as it gets in the way of Ankara's EEZ designs, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis indicated that he wants a dialogue with Turkey but not under threat.