Izmir, Sha'ban 25, 1437, June 01, 2016, SPA -- President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of the Turkish Republic, patronized here on Tuesday the closing ceremony of the Efes-2016 Military Exercise which began last month, in the presence of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabian's Chief of General Staff Lieutenant General Abdul Rahman Bin Saleh Al-Bunian and representatives of the participating countries. In a statement on the occasion, Lieutenant General Al-Bunian said that the Efes-2016 Military Exercise is the largest military exercise in the history of the Aegean region, stressing that the exercise has achieved its planned targets. He explained that this exercise is one of the largest military exercises in the world, in terms of the number of participating troops and the size of the maneuvers' area, noting that more than 8000 fighters and 255 observers from 79 countries participated in the exercise on an area of 43 km2. Lieutenant General Al-Bunian reported that Saudi land, sea and air forces participated in the exercise, pointing out that the aim of the exercise was to raise the combat efficiency of the participating forces, support their combat readiness and train them in a mixed environment and territories with different topography. --SPA 03:05 LOCAL TIME 00:05 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/w