Turkey violates Greek airspace again – Details
After nearly a year of quiet Turkish foreign policy seeking normalization with Middle Eastern and Middle Eastern countries, particularly Israel and Egypt, which conditioned the departure of Ankara-backed mercenaries from Libyan territory, Turkey seems to have returned to its familiar policy of violating airspace and the sovereignty of neighboring countries.
The Greek Reporter website quoted the Greek Foreign Ministry as saying in a statement: Greece “strongly” condemns the overflight of two Turkish fighter aircraft near the northern region of Alexandroupoli, describing the breakthrough as “an unprecedented violation of national sovereignty.”
According to the Greek Foreign Ministry, Turkish warplanes flew into Greek airspace within 2.5 nautical miles of the north-eastern city, considering “this action a very clear escalation of the Turkish provocation”.
The statement said Foreign Minister Níkos Déndias instructed Secretary General Themistocles Demiry to make “an immediate and strong protest to the Turkish ambassador”.
New ottoman amendment
In its statement yesterday, the Greek Foreign Ministry considered that the incursion was “part of Turkey’s efforts to promote its new Ottoman amendment, in violation of the basic rules of international law”.
“This undermines the cohesion and immediate priorities of NATO and poses a clear threat to the EU at a critical juncture, with the port of Alexandroupoli a key transport hub to strengthen our allies”, it stressed. It revealed that it would inform “allies and partners, as well as the European Union, NATO and the United Nations”.
Last April, the Greek Foreign Ministry summoned the Turkish Ambassador to Athens and handed him a strongly-worded letter of protest against the flight of Turkish fighter jets over the Greek islands.
“At the direction of the Greek Foreign Minister Níkos Déndias, the Secretary-General of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Themistocles Demiry, has just expressed a strong protest to the Turkish Ambassador to Athens over the flight of Turkish fighter aircraft over Greek territory, including populated areas”, the Ministry noted.
Turkish abuses in the Eastern Mediterranean
The Turkish fighter jets’ penetration of Greek airspace cannot be read in isolation from a statement of the European naval operation in the Mediterranean known by the acronym Irini, the Italian news agency NOVA quoted the operation as saying: Turkey has refused to grant a request for the operation to inspect the Kosovar vessel bound for the Libyan port of Misrata.
IRINI continued that Turkey refused to agree to boarding and inspection on the KOSOVAK container ship, which is heading from Istanbul to the port of Misrata in Libya, at the request of the European Union air and naval operation Irini, expressing “regret that Turkey yesterday refused its request for approval to inspect KOSOVAK in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 2292 on the arms embargo in Libya”, adding: “We reiterate the call of the UN Security Council to all UN members to cooperate with the inspections”.
KOSOVAK Imo 921157 is a container ship built in 1999 in the shipyard of Gdansk, Poland, that is currently sailing under the Turkish flag and has previously been adopted with the names KOSOVAK, Stadt Schwerin, Melfi Halifax, MSC Ireland and Jork Venture, with a total tonnage of 14,241 tons and a diver of 7.9 meters, with a maximum limit of 10.2 meters.
According to the tracking website Vessel Finder, the container ship stopped the transceiver at 10:59 p.m. yesterday while sailing in Greek waters, and its designated route is Misrata in western Libya, home to the most powerful militias in Libya, where it is expected to arrive tomorrow morning at around 06:00.
This is the seventh time that Turkey has refused to approve boarding and inspection of suspicious ships.
