Turkey Violates Greek Airspace, Accuses Greece of Training ‘Terrorists’ as World Distracted by Ukraine

 Tensions have flared up between historic enemies Turkey and Greece following accusations that Greece is training terrorists, with four Turkish F-16 aircraft violating Greek airspace two days after the Greek coastguard fired warning shots at a Turkish vessel.

Just after 10 a.m. on Thursday two pairs of Turkish F-16 aircraft violated Greek airspace by flying over some of its Aegean islands, Greek newspaper Ekathimerini reports.

This is part of an ongoing dispute between the two nations, as Turkey — a NATO member — does not acknowledge Greek sovereignty over swathes of territory that lies between them and has violated Greek thousands of times.

The airspace dispute follows the Greek coastguard firing warning shots at a Turkish fishing vessel by the island of Oinousses in the Aegean Sea on Tuesday.

The Greek coastguard vessel initially confronted the Turkish fishermen and asked them to leave, to which they refused and attempted to ram the Coastguard, resulting in the Greeks deploying sound signals and firing warning shots at the Turkish boat, which soon returned to Turkish waters. 

 

Turkey has claimed that one of the Turkish fishermen was injured in the confrontation and Turkey’s Foreign Ministry has summoned an official from Greece’s embassy in Ankara to explain the situation.

The Turkish government has also accused Greece of using “disproportionate” force and demanded Athens refrain from what they view as “interventions and harassments” against Turkish fishermen.

There have also been accusations from Ankara that the Greek coastguard has been pushing back boats of illegal migrants from Turkey, which they claim is illegal. 

Both of these events have happened in the context of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan accusing Greece of facilitating the alleged terrorist training of members from Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the Greek town of Lavrio.

The Greek Citizens’ Protection Minister, Takis Theodorikakos, has denied this accusation, dismissed the Turkish claims as “myths” and “crude propaganda”.

“It is unfortunate that Turkey is repeating the slanderous claim, without having any proof at all, that Greece is training terrorists against it. And it has absolutely no proof. These are myths that have nothing to do with truth and reality”, Theodorikakos said on Tuesday.

The United States’ Ambassador to Greece, Geoffrey Pyatt, has weighed in on the increased tensions between the nations, saying on Wednesday that the American stance is “explicit” in regards to Greek sovereignty over territories in the Aegean Sea.

Pyatt also reminded Greece and Turkey that they are both NATO members and called for them to pursue dialogue over conflict, suggesting that, against the backdrop of the Russo-Ukrainian conflict, “conflicts within NATO only serve the alliance’s opponents”.