Greek Defense Ministry officials announced that, once again, Turkish fighter jets invaded Greek airspace of the northeastern and southeastern Aegan region, on Tuesday, August 18.
Specifically, six Turkish fighter jets crossed to the Greek national airspace, followed by three electronic-warfare aircraft. The six jets were in formation and carried out eight violations.
Τhe jets were quickly chased away by a Greek military aircraft, a common occurrence in such incidents.
Similar incidents happen with frequency and have increased rapidly since 2013. In the first month of 2014 alone, Turkish aircraft allegedly violated Greek airspace 1,017 times, Gurcan reports. This was twice the number of total airspace violations between the two countries for the first half of 2013.
The two countries are NATO allies but there is ongoing hostility between them after Turkey invaded Cyprus in 1974, claiming oppression of Turkish populations on the island. Oil and natural gas deposits around Cyprus have also become a major point of contention between the two neighbors.
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