ANKARA (Sputnik) — The General Staff of Turkey on Thursday confirmed on Thursday media reports that several Greek fighters had chased a group of Turkish aircraft over the Aegean Sea.
“Six Turkish F-16 fighters made a training flight over international waters of the Aegean Sea on Tuesday, during which two Greek F-16 fighters chased one of them, and two Greek Mirage 2000 fighters held two of our aircraft as a target on the radar set for one minute. Turkish aircraft responded in the same way,” the Turkish General Staff said in a statement.
Disputes over the status of islands in the Aegean Sea has brought Greece and Turkey to the verge of hostilities twice, in 1987 and in 1996. The conflicts were smoothed over by the United States and NATO, as both states are the long-standing members of the alliance.