In addition to the military buildings, the base houses apartment-like barracks and social facilities stretched over 8,000 acres (32 km2) of land.

[1] To meet the requirements of the Turkish Navy's power presence in the Mediterranean and Aegean Sea, extensive planning was started in the late 1960s for the search of the location of a naval base.

The selected area was Karaağaç Bay at Aksaz, 13 km (8.1 mi) east of Marmaris in Muğla Province.

The place had been mentioned by Piri Reis in Ottoman historical documents as the most appropriate natural harbor capable of hosting a large naval fleet.

[1] At the Aksaz Naval Base, the Southern Sea Area Command of the Turkish Navy[2] maintains special units as: