Greece is accusing Turkey of yet another provocation.
Greece accused Turkey of a new provocation on Thursday, in the midst of a series of disputes in which the two have been involved for the past few years. Athens claimed that Ankara purposely kept Greece’s aircraft on Thursday, carrying its Iranian foreign minister, Nikos Dendias, by denying an overflight permit for the aircraft and forcing it to stay in the air for about 20 minutes.
The incident was reported by Greek state broadcaster ERT, reporting that the Greek aircraft carrying Dendias had kept circling Mosul for 20 minutes because the Turkish authorities had not allowed it to fly back to Greece via its airspace. Stelios Petsas, the spokesperson for the Greek government, told reporters, “This is another provocation in a series of provocations by Turkey.” In the future , I hope the incident will not be repeated.
The Foreign Ministry of Turkey refuted the claim that the aircraft had been ‘deliberately’ held up before allowing entry into Turkish airspace. It claimed that the Greek plane had not previously given the appropriate flight plan. “Turkish Foreign Ministry Speaker Hami Aksoy, clearing his country ‘s latest claim, said,” The plane in question took off from Iraq without providing a flight schedule. As the aircraft entered our airspace.
Aksoy explained that on Oct. 14, Turkey had given permission for the aircraft carrying the Greek Minister to move through its airspace through Iraq. However, the aircraft broke down in Iraq and Athens sent a second aircraft, which, he added, was also given a pass to fly “with the same flight permit number, without delay,” through Ankara ‘s airspace.
On Thursday, in addition to the aircraft problem, Greece, together with France, also increased the demand for action against Turkey for its ongoing provocations. Athens sought the strict handling of Ankara by the European Union for its growing violations and hostile interference in the region , in particular in the Mediterranean waters at issue. The European Union held a summit in Brussels on Friday to discuss, among other subjects, a solution to the continuing conflict between NATO allies.
