Turkey on Thursday rejected accusations that its warplanes conducted unauthorized military flights over Greek islands, pointing the finger at fellow NATO-member Greece instead. Ankara called on Athens to “stop provocative actions and rhetoric” and to support recently resumed talks that aim to build confidence between the two countries.
A Turkish Foreign Ministry statement said accusations made by Greece “do not reflect the truth” and insisted that it was Greece’s air force that carried out “provocative flights” near Turkey’s coast, allegedly violating its airspace repeatedly over the southwestern towns of Didim, Datça and Dalaman.
“While Greece is the party which started and escalated the tension — accusing our country of unfounded allegations is incompatible with the recent positive agenda and good neighborly relations between the two countries,” the Turkish statement read.
"The statements of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Greece concerning the incidents that took place between the air forces of the two countries in the Aegean Sea on April 27, 2022, do not reflect the truth," Tanju Bilgiç, the spokesperson for the Turkish Foreign Ministry, said in a written statement.
Bilgiç noted that between April 26-28, the Greek Air Force conducted provocative flights in close proximity to the Turkish coast and repeatedly violated Turkish airspace over the southwestern towns of Didim, Datça and Dalaman.
"The Turkish Air Force reciprocated to these provocative flights and violations in accordance with their rules of engagement. Given that Greece was the party that started and escalated the said tension, making unfounded allegations against Turkey is totally incompatible with the recent positive agenda and good neighborly relations between the two countries," he said.
Turkey expects the Greek side to put an end to its provocative rhetoric and actions, and sincerely support the Confidence Building Measures process initiated both bilaterally and within NATO so that such incidents do not recur in the future, said Bilgiç.
"There is no change in Turkey's position towards the settlement of all Aegean disputes, including the breadth of airspace, in accordance with international law and within a framework of sincere dialogue with Greece," he added.
Turkey and Greece have long-standing sea and air boundary disputes that intensified with moves to explore potential undersea natural gas reserves.
The disagreement has resulted in near-daily air force patrols and interception missions, mostly in disputed airspace around Greek islands that are near Turkey’s coastline.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Thursday he contacted NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg to report the alleged airspace violations by Turkey that he said included unauthorized flights over several large Greek islands.
“I made it clear to Secretary-General Stoltenberg that this type of behavior by a NATO ally in the southeast flank of the alliance is simply unacceptable. It undermines European security as well as the unity of purpose of NATO,” Mitsotakis said.
Mitsotakis made the comments at a meeting with Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin.
On Wednesday, Turkey’s ambassador to Athens was summoned to Greece’s Foreign Ministry to receive a complaint about the unauthorized military flights.
