ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey's military has sought to defend itself against accusations from a Greek marine conservation group that its naval exercises have been behind a recent spike in the number of dolphin deaths.

The military posted on Twitter on Tuesday a video and photographs of dolphins happily accompanying vessels during naval exercises.

On Monday, Greece's Archipelagos Institute said that 15 dead dolphins have washed up on Greece's Aegean coastlines since late February. While it couldn't prove any link it said the spike came in the wake of the Feb. 27-March 8 Turkish military drills that made use of sonar and practiced with live ammunition.

The Turkish military said the armed forces "maintain their sensitivity to the environment even during operations" and "acted with the consciousness of protecting our friends at sea."