Four Turkish fighter jets violated Greek air space on the afternoon of July 20 2010, flying over the small Aegean island of Agathonisi before Greek fighters scrambled and gave them a chase. Greek defence officials said it was the fourth such transgression by Turkish aircraft in three weeks, Greek media reported.
In a further Turkish incursion, a Turkish marine research ship ventured into Greece’s continental shelf area in the northern Aegean where Athens claims the rights for exploration and exploitation of potential mineral and fossil fuel deposits, daily Kathimerni quoted the defence ministry as saying.
The manoeuvres of the Turkish vessel Cesme, in addition to the reappearance of yet another Turkish ship, the Piri Reis near Kastellorizo, is the latest episode in the ongoing bilateral territorial disputes in the Aegean.
“It is clear that the Turks are trying to maintain tension but we will not play their game because, the way we see it, it is they that will have to justify their provocative actions,” Kathimerini cited a source in the defence ministry as saying. The same source said that Greece would continue to uphold its passive stance which was part of a “well-coordinated strategy”.
The source said that Athens possessed “more diplomatic tools” in its arsenal should Ankara continue its provocative behaviour.
By late July 20, the Cesme was off the coast of Thrace, close to the island of Samothrace.
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