Hellenic Navy chief: every night there is a war in the Aegean

Greece's fleet is in a constant state of readiness to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity, Hellenic Navy Commander Admiral Nikos Tsounis said on Friday.

Whenever the passage of Turkish vessels in the Aegean is deemed to be of concern, there is a Greek response, Tsounis said.

"Every night there is a war in the Aegean," he was quoted as saying by the Athens-Macedonia news agency.

In 2009, there were just 90 such passages deemed to be non-innocuous, compared to 1,998 in 2017 and 1,249 in the first nine months of this year.

Last year, a total of 3,317 violations of Greek air space by Turkish jets were recorded and 3,147 in the first nine months of this year.