Numerous violations of Greek national airspace and infringements of Athens FIR regulations by Turkish warplanes were reported throughout the eastern Aegean on Friday, a recent trend viewed as a more pronounced military provocation by the neighboring country considering the timing – – amid the ongoing peak summer season.
According to Greek military authorities, 14 Turkish warplanes were detected in the wider region – 12 F-16 fighter planes and two maritime surveillance CN-235s. Six of the F-16s were armed.
Greek warplanes were scrambled and intercepted the Turkish planes in all instances, as per standing procedures followed by the Hellenic Air Force, a military communique read.
The stepped up Turkish military activity comes days after Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu made an inflammatory statement, by which Ankara considers that there are no sea borders between Greece and Turkey in the Aegean.
Turkey, whose EU candidacy status has dramatically regressed in recent years, is the only European country – sans land-locked mini states – that refuses to sign (non party), ratify or even acknowledge the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), but rather insists on an exceptionalism-tainted position of “grey areas” in the Aegean.
