BY DAILY SABAH WITH AA
Greece has engaged in 1,123 violations of Türkiye’s airspace and coastal waters so far this year as tensions between the two countries are again on the rise with mutual accusations of rights violations.
According to Anadolu Agency (AA), last year, the total number of violations numbered 1,616.
The Greek armed forces harassed Turkish jets on mission flights by locking the radar for 3,372 seconds in 14 separate incidents from Aug. 15 to the present.
Moreover, on Sept. 1, Greece harassed the maritime patrol plane that was performing the “NATO Sea Guard Operation” mission in the south of Rhodes. While Defense Ministry sources emphasized that the aircraft in question was performing a NATO mission and was unarmed, they said that they had responded in kind within the framework of reciprocity principles.
Historic rivals while also being fellow members of NATO, Türkiye and Greece have been at odds over issues ranging from overflights and the status of Aegean islands to maritime boundaries and hydrocarbon resources in the Mediterranean, as well as ethnically split Cyprus.
Ankara has recently been angered by harassment of its jets by Greek forces. Türkiye has said that S-300 air defense systems used by Greece had locked on to Turkish jets during a routine flight.
Daily Sabah