Greek missiles locking on Turkish fighters over Med challenges NATO – Erdogan

Greece has challenged NATO and its allies, not Türkiye, by
locking its air defense systems on Turkish jets carrying out a NATO
reconnaissance mission, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on
Tuesday, Trend
reports citing Daily Sabah.

The Greek air defense system’s harassment of Turkish jets is a
“hostile act,” the president said ahead of a celebration concert
for the centenary of Türkiye’s Victory Day at the presidential
complex in Ankara.

Greek surface-to-air missiles locked on to Turkish F-16 fighter
jets carrying out a reconnaissance mission in international
airspace, it was reported on Sunday. The F-16s were at an altitude
of 10,000 feet to the west of Greece’s Rhodes island when the
Russian-made S-300’s target tracking radar locked on.

Last week, Türkiye summoned the Greek military attache and filed
a complaint with NATO after Greek F-16s harassed Turkish F-16s that
were conducting a mission for the alliance.

Greece rejected the Turkish version of events. The Defense
Ministry said five Turkish jets appeared without prior notification
to accompany a flight of U.S. B-52 bombers – which hadn’t been due
to have a fighter escort – through an area subject to Greek flight
control. “Greece is not our political, economic or military
equivalent or interlocutor,” Erdogan added. “Establishing bases on
Aegean islands by Greece does not hold any importance for Türkiye,”
he said.

Although both NATO members, Türkiye and Greece have decades-old
disputes over an array of issues, including territorial claims in
the Aegean Sea and disputes over the airspace there.

Tensions flared in 2020 over exploratory drilling rights in
areas of the Mediterranean Sea where Greece and the Greek Cypriot
administration claim exclusive economic zones, leading to a naval
standoff.

Türkiye has accused Greece of violating international agreements
by militarizing islands in the Aegean Sea. But, Athens says it
needs to defend the islands – many of which lie close to Türkiye’s
coast.

The president further said that he is curious about the United
States’ response to the Greek air defense system’s harassment of
Turkish jets.