The latest irredentist-sounding musings this week by Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan coincided with heightened activity by the Turkish air force in the Aegean region, with 23 violations of Greek national air space recorded just on Thursday by 14 Turkish warplanes.
The violations were recorded in the southeastern, central and northeastern Aegean, while an engagement was reported in at least one instance. Four of the intruders were armed, according to Greek military sources.
Most of the violations involved infringements on Athens FIR regulations (i.e. lack of notification or flight plan submission when entering Athens FIR jurisdiction), while in some cases the warplanes proceeded with airspace violations.
Several Greek fighter planes were scrambled to intercept the intruding aircraft.
