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Greece’s Armed Forces on Combat Readiness Drill at the borders to FYROM & Turkey

Greek government and especially the nationalist government partner Panos Kammenos had enough from the ongoing Turkish violations of Greek Air Space (Athens Flight Information Region) and the FYROM police firing tear gas inside the Greek territory. As Defense Minister, Panos Kammenos gave an order to Chief of Greek National Defense General Staff, Admiral Eyaggelos Apostolakis, and he placed the Armed Forces on Combat Readiness since Thursday dawn.

Admiral Apostolakis activated the Rapid Reaction Force in Macedonia at the borders with FYROM and the Air Defense on the islands of Chios and Oinousses in the North-Eastern Aegean Sea.

Greek National Defense General Staff issued a statement reading:

“In the context of Combat Readiness Exercise, the Rapid Reaction Force “D” of the North Field and the Air Defense on the Chios- Oinousses area were activated in the early morning hours of Thursday, April 14, 2016.”.

On Sunday and Wednesday, FYROM police and army units fired tear gas and rubber bullets against Idomeni refugees and migrants trying to bring down the border fence. The airspace over the two islands in North-Eastern Aegean Sea witnessed an unprecedented number of FIR violations by Turkish fighter jets in the last three days. Only yesterday morning, 2 F-16 Turkish fighter jets violated the Greek Air Space 6 times in total, flying in and out the air space over Oinousses and the islet of Panagia. Each time, the Turkish jets were chased by Greek fighter jets.

The Greek Foreign Ministry submitted official complaints to Turkey – but this has been done in the last two-three decades thus without changing a bit in Ankara’s air space violations policy.Even after Wednesday’s complaints, Turkish fighter jets violated Greek FIR on Thursday morning over Oinousses and Panagia.

Similarly, Greece’s diplomatic envoy in Skopje Theoharis Lalakos submitted two protest notes on Monday to FYROM Foreign Ministry. But FYROM repeated the teargas firing on Wednesday.

“We are holding large exercises in order to be ready. Turkey has historically always tried to export problems when it has domestic ones. We must be ready for that,” the source told RIA Novosti. The source reportedly claimed that the drills were in no way connected with the recent migrant incident.

According to Greek military affairs website OnAlert.gr, the presence of RRF in the north aims to make “residents feel secure.”

kammenos

To stress his determination, Defense Minister Panos Kammenos went to the Ministry this morning in military uniform. He will fly to Oinousses later today to see with his own eyes the Drill and the Turkish FIR violations.

Militaire.gr notes that the drills are to be conducted in the north of Greece, near the city of Kilkis and the refugee camp in Idomeni at the border with the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and over the islands of Chios and Oinousses.

Defense Minister Kammenos is determined to not let Turkish FIR violations go “unnoticed” by the country’s international partners and indicated that Athens was taking action at the international political level.

“All the violations of our national air space have been reported in complaints to NATO and the European Union and at the military level,” Kammenos told Real FM on Thursday morning..

“Now initiatives are being taken at the political level,” he said, noting that “high-level US officials” have been briefed.

Both countries, Greece and Turkey, are NATO members.

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4 comments

  1. Giaourti Giaourtaki

    To help bring this international notice Russian jets and an US-warship had some fun too.
    It’s funny to know that fyrom-mercenaries tell refugees that they act in the name of EU.

  2. Too little….too late!
    The Greek nation is a joke.
    It can not be taken seriously in anything it does.

    Expat Greeks have woken up and feel the same.
    Not a penny in aid or investments in Greece!
    Many have been burned and fooled with their good intentions.

    Shlomo.

  3. The idiot should keep his suit on.
    Seeing him in military uniform sends the wrong message. Is Greece at war?