Turkish F-16 fighter jets conducted 53 violations of Greek airspace, 9 violations of Athens FIR and 14 overflights over Aegean islands on Thursday, just a few hours after the meeting of the defense ministers of the two countries on the sidelines of the NATO meeting in Brussels.
The fighter jets flew 14 times in low altitude over Pharmakonisi, Lipsi, Arkius, Agathonisi, Oinousses and Panagia in the Cental and East Aegean Sea.
On seven occasions, Turkish and Greek jets got involved in virtual fights, so-called “dog fights”, when the latter intercepted the first.
Eight Turkish aircraft were armed.
The Greek airspace violations and overflights were conducted in the fourth consecutive day.
During the meeting with Turkish counterpart Hulusi Akar in Brussels on Wednesday afternoon, Greek Defense Minister Nikos Panagiotopoulos stressed that Ankara needed to stop the air space violations as they could lead to some kind of accident or “other incident.”
On the meeting day, Turkish jets conducted 68 air space violations and engaged in “dog fights” with Greek jets nine times.