Two Turkish F-16 jets conducted flights on Friday that violated Greek airspace over the Aegean island of Ro, Greek media reported, drawing criticism from a leading Turkish Foreign Ministry official who questioned maritime borders in the region following the incident
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th January, 2020) Two Turkish F-16 jets conducted flights on Friday that violated Greek airspace over the Aegean island of Ro, Greek media reported, drawing criticism from a leading Turkish Foreign Ministry official who questioned maritime borders in the region following the incident.
According to the Kathimerini newspaper, a pair of F-16 jets undertook two unauthorized flights that entered Greek airspace by flying over Ro at 3,000 and 6,000 feet respectively.
Friday's incident is the latest in a spate of airspace breaches by Turkish military aircraft. The newspaper reported that Turkish jets entered Greek airspace over the Aegean Sea on December 24 and December 27. It came amid rising tensions between Athens and Ankara after Turkey signed a deal with Libya's Government of National Accord (GNA) that seeks to re-draw borders in the Mediterranean by creating a maritime corridor between Libya and Turkey.
Cagatay Erciyes, Director General for Bilateral Political & Maritime�Aviation�Border Affairs at the Turkish Foreign Ministry, slammed the latest Greek complaints of Turkish airspace violations.
"Believeing that a tiny island of 10 km2 [3.86 square miles], located 2km [1.2 miles] away from Turkey and 570km away from Greece can create 40.000 km2 maritime zone in the East Mediterranean is ridiculous," Erciyes wrote on Twitter.
Under the Turkey-GNA deal, signed on November 27, Ankara would gain exploration rights to a number of gas-rich areas of the Mediterranean. Greece, Egypt and Cyprus have slammed the proposals and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis called the agreement "geographically ridiculous" on Tuesday, media reported.
