44 airspace violations by Turkey registered on Friday

Four pairs of Turkish F-16s, one Turkish unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and two Turkish navy transport aircraft CN-235s entered Athens Flight Information Region on Friday without submitting a flight plan, the Greek military said on Friday.

The Hellenic National Defense General Staff noted a total of 9 infringements of the Athens FIR developed into 44 airspace violations across the entire Aegean archipelago: 29 by the CN-235s, 3 by the fighter jets and 12 by the UAV.

Two Turkish aircraft were carrying weapons.

All Turkish aircraft were intercepted by Greek fighter jets, per international protocols, except for one case in which the interception turned into a dogfight, noted the general staff.

Earlier, the Foreign Ministry strongly condemned the incursion of two Turkish fighter jets within 2.5 nautical miles of the northeastern city of Alexandroupoli on Friday, calling the incident an “unprecedented violation of national sovereignty.”