Turkey-Pakistan Joint Military Drills Ataturk-XI 2021: We Desire Death More Than You Desire Life

On February 9, 2021, Pakistan and Turkey started ATATURK-XI joint military drills. The three-week-long joint military exercise involves Turkish Special Forces and troops of Pakistani military's elite Special Services Group. The opening ceremony of the exercise ATATURK-XI 2021 was held at the Pakistani military's Special Service headquarters in Tarbela, in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The banner at the shooting range, where the ceremony was held, read: "We desire death more ardently than you desire life." The exercise included: counter-terrorism, close quarter battle, cordon and search, rappelling, fire and move techniques, helicopter rappelling, compound clearance, hostage and rescue, and free fall operations. Pakistani media wrote that the Pakistani-Turkish military drills will further strengthen the "bond of two brotherly nations."