Athens accused Ankara of harassing a helicopter carrying Defense Minister Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos and the Chief of the National Defense General Staff, General Konstantinos Floros on Sunday.
Greek Defense Ministry sources said the encounter occurred after its jets intercepted Turkish aircraft in what are common but at times dangerous maneuvers by two NATO allies.
The minister and chief of staff were visiting the islands of Oinousses, Agathonissi, and Farmakonissi in the eastern Aegean close to the Turkish mainland.
The incident took place after the helicopter took off from Oinousses. A pair of Turkish F16 fighter jets flew next to the Greek helicopter, making dangerous maneuvers and harassing it.
The Turkish fighters flew over 3,500 feet above Oinousses, when they harassed the helicopter carrying the leadership of the Ministry of Defense, shortly after taking off from the island. The same pair of Turkish aircraft then flew over another island, Agathonisi, at 1,700 feet.
The Ministry of Defense has provided photos of the incident.
Turkey on Monday rejected the claims, saying the planes were conducting “routine flights” in the area.
“Our fighter aircraft have performed an identification mission as part of their routine activities in the Aegean and harassment of the helicopter with Minister of National Defense of Greece on board is out of question,” said Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy.
Panagiotopoulos condemned the Turkish provocation, saying that such behavior on Turkey’s part does not help to ease the tension that both sides should seek at this time.
Turkish-Greek dispute escalates day after day, particularly after Ankara signed an agreement on maritime boundaries in the Mediterranean Sea with the government of Fayez al-
Serraj, ignoring the presence of the Greek island of Crete between the coasts of Turkey and Libya.
On Monday afternoon, Greek said 4 Turkish fighter jets entered its airspace at the southeastern Aegean without submitting flight plan, according to the Hellenic National Defense General Staff (GEETHA).
It said the first pair of Turkish F-16 jets flew over the islets of Oinouses and a minute later, a second pair of fighter jets flew over the southeastern tip of Chios.
Separately, two ferries carrying around 400 undocumented migrants from the eastern Aegean island of Lesvos docked at the port of Piraeus on Monday.
Last month, Greek authorities announced plans to move 2,380 asylum seekers deemed to belong to vulnerable groups from overcrowded camps on the Aegean islands to less cramped facilities on the mainland.
