Türkiye is planning to submit to NATO and its allies the radar logs showing how a Greek S-300 air defense system harassed Turkish F-16 jets during a mission in international airspace, sources said on Wednesday.
Turkish jets engaged in missions over the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean Seas were harassed by the Russian-made S-300 air defense system stationed on the island of Crete on Aug. 23.
The Turkish Defense Ministry is preparing to send the radar records of the incident to the NATO secretary-general and the defense ministries of alliance members.
Turkish jets were "radar locked" on Aug. 23 on a mission in international airspace, said the sources, requesting anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media, describing the Greek harassment as a "hostile act" according to the NATO rules of engagement.
"Despite this hostile act, the planes completed their planned missions and returned to their bases safely," the sources added.
The harassment came from a Russian-made S-300 air defense system stationed on the island of Crete, the sources noted, mentioning how some NATO countries continue to criticize Türkiye for buying Russian-made S-400 systems but say nothing about Greece.
Stating that Greece bought the previous version of the system nearly 25 years ago, sources say that a NATO country, namely Greece, harassing another NATO country's warplanes through the Russian-made S-300 system is "against the principles of the NATO alliance."
Türkiye, a NATO member for over 70 years, has complained about Greece's repeated provocative actions and rhetoric in the region in recent months, saying such moves frustrate its earnest efforts for peace.
In April 2017, when its protracted efforts to buy an air defense system from the United States proved futile, Türkiye signed a contract with Russia to acquire the state-of-art S-400s.
U.S. officials voiced opposition to their deployment, claiming the S-400s would be incompatible with NATO systems.
Türkiye, however, stressed that the S-400s would not be integrated into NATO systems, and pose no threat to the alliance or its armaments, and has repeatedly proposed setting up a commission to clarify the issue.
Since the beginning of 2022, Greek warplanes have violated Turkish airspace 256 times and harassed Turkish jets 158 times.
Greek coast guard boats also violated Turkish territorial waters 33 times.
