Euractiv — According to Greek press reports, 20 Turkish F-16, 5 CN-235 maritime surveillance aircraft and 19 helicopters entered the Athens flight information region (FIR) yesterday (15 May),without submitting a flight plan.
In all cases, Turkish aircraft were identified and intercepted by Greek fighters, while in nine cases the interception process resulted in near combat situations.
In addition, two Turkish missile boats entered Greek territorial waters off the southeast Aegean island of Agathonisi.
The vessels, which were taking part in a maritime exercise code-named Denizkurdu (Seawolf), stayed in Greek territorial waters for about 20 minutes.
The Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a strong communique saying that the incident “constitutes a flagrant violation of international law”.
“It is clear that there are forces in Turkey that do not want understanding and good neighbourly relations between the two countries,” the Greek ministry added.
In the meantime, tensions between Ankara and Berlin also escalated.
The German government is exploring the possibility of moving its troops out of Turkey’s Incirlik air base, which is crucial for the fight against ISIS, after a second German parliamentary delegation was prevented from visiting the Incirlik facility.
Commission warns Ankara
The EU sent a strict message to Turkey, urging that it respect the sovereignty of the EU’s member states.“The EU stresses the need to respect the sovereignty of member states over their territorial sea and airspace, ” an EU spokesperson told EURACTIV.
“The EU underlines that Turkey needs to commit itself unequivocally to good neighbourly relations and urges Turkey to avoid any kind of source of friction, threat or action directed against a member state, which damages good neighbourly relations and the peaceful settlement of disputes,” the spokesperson said.
“At the Informal Meeting of Foreign Ministers (Gymnich) of last 28 April, the EU High-Representative and Vice-President Federica Mogherini recalled that good neighbourly relations are one of the core principles which Turkey is called upon to respect as a candidate country,” the EU official concluded.
