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| Alkiviadis Paraskevopoulos |
Turkish jets in mock dogfight with Greek F-16s as Ankara extends East Med military drills | Ahval
Aug 29 2020 12:46 Gmt+3
Last Updated On: Aug 29 2020 12:50 Gmt+3
The Turkish air force intercepted six Greek F-16 jets headed towards Cyprus and warded them off with its own F-16s, Turkey’s Defence Ministry announced on Friday.
The warplanes were later determined to have taken off from Crete. The Turkish jets intercepted them “to achieve visual identification for the military traffic approaching the area subject to a NAVTEX and to push them away from the area,” a ministry statement said. The incident occurred on Thursday, according to the statement.
Turkey had issued a new NAVTEX alert on Thursday for an extension to the exploration efforts for seismic ship Oruç Reis in the eastern Mediterranean, state-run Anadolu Agency reported.
Meanwhile on Friday, the Turkish navy issued another NAVTEX alert for military exercises off the coast of its southern Anamur town between Aug. 29 and Sept. 11.
Cyprus in response issued a NAVTEX, saying Turkey’s announcement was “illegal and constitutes a violation of the territory of the Republic of Cyprus, the international law and maritime safety procedures.”
The term “Cyprus” as used in the message “is not the original partnership state established in 1960,” another Turkish NAVTEX message in response said, calling Cyprus’s assessment “illegal,” and the NAVTEX “null and neither was nor will be accepted by Turkey”.
Tensions have been running high in eastern Mediterranean as Cyprus and Greece come head to head with Turkey regarding sovereignty, rights to territorial waters and to underwater resources – mainly natural gas.
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