A group of armed Turkish warplanes violated Greece’s airspace on several occasions Monday and became involved in a simulated dogfight with Greek jets sent to intercept them in a new sign of tension between the two neighbors.
Two F-16 fighter jets and a pair of CN-235 transports of a type Turkey uses for marine surveillance were involved in the incidents over the Aegean Sea, in which Greece’s airspace was breached ten times, according to Greek officials.
It was the second simulated dogfight recorded so far this year, with the first in March, according to Greece’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. A total 159 violations have been recorded since January 1, compared to 225 for the whole of 2025, when only one simulated dogfight took place, in December.
Neither airspace violations nor dogfights were reported in 2024, but in 2023, there were 1,172 violations and 87 simulated dogfights, according to Greek military data. In 2022, Turkey violated the airspace of Greece more than 10,000 times.
Tensions between Greece and Turkey were high in 2020, when Turkey encouraged thousands of migrants to try to force their way into its neighbor across the Evros land border. Months later, a Greek and a Turkish frigate lightly collided amid a dispute over offshore gas exploration rights, but the situation did not escalate further.
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