No less that 37 violations by Turkish fighter planes were recorded on Tuesday in the central Aegean, according to Greek military officials in Athens, while in one instance an engagement was reported between Hellenic Air Force planes and Turkish intruders.
At least two of the Turkish warplanes were armed, the same sources added, whereas a pair of Turkish planes also flew directly over two small islets north of Agathonissi, at 30,000 feet.
Turkey does not recognize a 10-mile airspace declared for many decades by Greece, insisting that airspace and territorial waters must coincide. Greece adheres to a six-nautical-mile limit in terms of territorial waters, whereas it can legally extend the latter to 12 nautical miles, as per the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
Conversely, Turkey is not a signatory to UNCLOS – alone among EU member-states and candidate states – and is further ham-stringed by a vote by its grand assembly in the mid 1990s, which considers an extension of territorial waters by Greece as a case of war (casus belli).
Moreover, the Turkish state over recent decades also doesn’t recognize Athens FIR jurisdiction over the Aegean region, a view shared by only one state, namely, Turkey.
