A COMPANY of Turkish soldiers celebrated their National Day on Salisbury Plain on Thursday by crawling through underground pipes, scaling walls and balancing on high beams in between buildings.

The 68 men of the Turkish Army’s 66th Infantry Mechanised Brigade, normally based in Istanbul, are in the UK for a fortnight as part of a defence diplomacy programme in order to train on British weapon systems and conduct physical and military tactical training.

They were being instructed by subject matter experts from the Land Warfare Centre Battle Group, 1st Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers (1RRF), at Copehill Down, the military village designed specifically for urban warfare training.

Major Toby Bunney, officer commanding Y Company 1RRF, said: “This is a great training opportunity for both sides. Many of the Turkish soldiers have been on operations so there are many lessons we can learn from them. We had a social evening with them last night and it was a good opportunity to get to know them away from the training.”

A football match between the Fusiliers and Turkish soldiers in Tidworth, where 1 RRF is based, resulted in a win for the English 7-2.