Turkey-Greece scandal: Erdogan sends fighter jets over Greek islands
Created: 06/22/2022, 05:41
By: Richard Strobl
An F-16 fighter jet of the Turkish Air Force takes off from Wittmund Airfield.
(Archive image) © Ingo Wagner/dpa
In the growing Turkey-Greece dispute over islands in the Aegean, Turkish fighter jets have now flown over two islands.
Athens - It is probably the next escalation in the smoldering dispute between Turkey and Greece.
Apparently, Turkey sent four fighter jets over two Greek islands on Tuesday.
This is reported by the Greek portal
Skai
.
According to this, two pairs of Turkish F-16 and F-4 fighter jets flew at 20,000 feet on Tuesday at around 12.03 p.m. over the first island and at 12.04 p.m. over the second island.
One of the islands is said to have been Makronisi.
Skai
comments on the flyover as follows: "Turkey is escalating tensions with new fighter jet flyovers over Greek islands."
Turkey and Greece in dispute over Aegean islands
Relations between the two neighboring countries Turkey and Greece have recently deteriorated massively.
Athens accuses Turkey of regularly flying over Greek territory with fighter jets without permission.
Turkey is questioning Greek sovereignty over several islands and accusing Athens of illegally militarizing the islands, as explained in the video here.
The Greek Foreign Ministry had recently rejected Turkey's claims in the Aegean again.
The Ministry in Athens has published a series of historical maps on the Internet that go back to 1923 and, according to the Greek interpretation, prove Turkey's "unilateral and illegal claims" to be unjustified.
Turkey-Greece dispute: Erdogan tries to use power
Turkey began building up its territorial claims in 1973 with an "illegal" oil well in the northern Aegean, expanding these to include the Maritime Rescue Zone administered by Greece in the 1980s.
Turkey subsequently extended its claims to the uninhabited Greek islands, which it referred to as "grey zones" in the 1990s.
The Turkish government recently said it would cut bilateral ties with Greece.
Ankara also accused Greece of stationing Greek troops on the Aegean islands, violating the peace treaties signed after the two world wars.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Greece should "collect" and "disarm" the islands.
In addition, Erdogan threatened Greece with military action and added: "I'm not kidding".
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Athens' position on this is that the Greek troops are in the Aegean islands because there are military barracks and Turkish planes and ships on the Turkish side.
Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Ankara will challenge Athens' sovereignty over the islands if Athens continues to send troops there.
The dispute between the NATO partners over areas in the Aegean has long been primarily about the rich gas deposits in the region.
(rjs/dpa/afp)
