The Turkish Defense Ministry has explained that Turkish fighter jets felt “threatened” after a Greek missile system S-300 put “in the spotlight” on the F-16 that they carried out a reconnaissance mission in the Mediterranean and Aegean seas, for which reason it has warned Athens that this action is a “hostile act”.
The group of F-16, whose number has not been specified by the Ministry of Defense, flew over the Mediterranean Sea on August 23 to the west of the greek island of rhodeswhen the Greek side obtained surface-to-air missiles to identify Turkish planes.
Despite the harassmentthe Turkish planes completed their planned mission and returned to their bases safely,” the Turkish side explained in a statement, adding that the Greek radar system is based in Crete, according to the Anatolia news agency.
Therefore, Ankara has reminded Athens that radar jamming of warplanes from a NATO-allied country is considered a “hostile act”, for which it has accused Greece of breaching the regulations of the Atlantic Alliance.
For its part, Greece has denied this Sunday that it has threatened the Turkish F-16 with its S-300 system. “The interception is carried out by our fighter jets in accordance with international standards as per usual practice,” military sources have told the daily ‘Kathimerini‘.
Although both countries are members of NATO, Turkey and Greece have been feuding for decades over various issues, including territorial claims in the Aegean Sea and fights over airspace. Disputes have brought them to the brink of war three times in the last half century.
Tensions flared in 2020 over the exploration drilling rights in areas of the Mediterranean Sea where Greece and Cyprus claim exclusive economic zones, which led to a naval confrontation.
Erdogan points to “the thieves”
Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan pointed out a few weeks ago that Turkey will not give up its rights in the Eastern Mediterranean, and spoke of the existence of “thieves” who want to take away from their country “what belongs to it” in the area.
Erdogan threatened “serious consequences” if Greece does not demilitarize its islands in the eastern Aegean, which lie off the Turkish coast, and Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavusoglu even went so far as to point out that if Athens does not act on it “the Greek sovereignty” over these islands.
The continuous friction between the two countries has aroused concern in the general headquarters of NATO. Your General Secretary, Jens Stoltenberg, he urged Greece and Turkey to resolve their differences in the Aegean through dialogue and “in a spirit of trust”. Stoltenberg noted that at this time, when “Putin’s war against Ukraine has dismantled peace in Europe,” it is even more important that the member countries of the Alliance remain united.
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