"I made it clear to the (NATO) Secretary General that this type of behavior by a NATO ally on the southeast flank of the alliance is simply unacceptable. It undermines European security as well as the unity of purpose of NATO," Mitsotakis said during a joint press conference with Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin in Athens.
Mitsotakis said he informed Jens Stoltenberg in a phone call about the violation of airspace by the Turkish air force above the islands of Samos, Lemnos, Chios, and Karpathos.
The Greek foreign ministry said in a statement that it has issued a strong protest to the Turkish ambassador regarding the "unprecedented number" of violations of Greek airspace and overflights of Greek territory in a single day.
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Greece decided to put its air defense systems on full alert to protect its islands, saying Turkish aircraft regularly violated its airspace, the Greek Newsit.gr news portal reported on Thursday, citing the Defense Ministry.
ReplyDeleteThe report said dozens of flights by Turkish fighter jets over Greek islands in the Aegean Sea have prompted Greece to increase combat readiness of its armed forces.
"The general staff of the Greek national defense has decided to activate air defense systems on the islands in the eastern part of the Aegean Sea," the news outlet reported.
The report referred to systems that already are on the islands and the ones that will be moved to the area for deployment and activation. They will be assigned to monitor airspace and, if required, lock onto targets on their radar screens. The general staff said on Wednesday alone, Turkish fighter jets perpetrated 168 violations of Greek airspace, prompting Greece to scramble its fighter jets to push the violators out of its airspace.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Thursday, following talks with Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin, that he recently spoke on the phone with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to "report the latest provocative behavior of the Turkish air force, which made dangerous overflights over Rhodes, Lemnos, Chios, Karpathos and other Greek islands." He said that behavior was unacceptable for a NATO ally and must be stopped.
The Greek Foreign Ministry on Thursday strongly condemned the unprecedented number of violations of Greek airspace by Turkish military aircraft and reported them to officials of the EU, NATO, the UN, the International Civil Aviation Organization, as well as member states of the UN Security Council.