Turkish jets violate Greek air space during president’s tour

A pair of Turkish F4 fighter jets entered the Athens Flight Information Region at 10 a.m. on Wednesday between Lesvos and Lemnos and flew over the Fournoi islets at 8,900 feet.

The violations occurred as Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos is carrying out a tour of the Aegean islands by helicopter.

On Wednesday he was to visit the islets of Oinousses as well as Lemnos and Aghios Efstratios.

The violations came a day after military helicopters transporting Pavlopoulos on his tour suffered radio interference from Turkey.

According to Greek military sources, the pilots flying the Chinook and Huey helicopters received messages from the Turkish armed forces that they were flying in a demilitarized zone where such flights are forbidden. As is customary in such cases, the Greek pilots did not respond to the callings from the Turkish side.

Such interference is not rare but it is believed that on Tuesday’s messages were an indirect response to Pavlopoulos’s recent comments about Turkey.