Chief of General Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar said on Tuesday that Turkey has taken all measures in the Aegean and Mediterranean Sea to avoid provocations and a fait accompli.

Akar said that Turkey wants to solve the existing problems in the Aegean Sea within the framework of international law and good neighborly relations, and that all efforts are being exerted with a good will. Akar added: "That being said, a fait accompli will not be allowed in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean. All necessary measures are being taken in a decisive manner."

Fragile ties between Turkey and Greece have fallen to new lows following the Greek courts' repeated refusal to extradite eight alleged putschist ex-Turkish soldiers in the wake of the 2016 defeated coup and Turkey's detentio

n last month of two Greek soldiers.

The first quarter of 2018 has been particularly tense. Apart from the soldiers issue, the Greek Cypriots' unilateral hydrocarbon search activities is a matter of grave concern to Turkey. Greek Cyprus has been trying to exclude Turkish Cyprus and Turkey, which has been conducting seismic surveys in the area and exercising its legal rights in accordance with international maritime law.

The issue has reignited old tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean. In February, the Cypriot administration commissioned Italian energy company ENI, which declared the discovery of a potentially sizable gas field off the southwestern coast close to Egypt's Zohr deposit, which is the largest-ever discovered in the Mediterranean. However, Turkey immediately deployed warships to the region and prevented the Italian energy firm from continuing its operations in the region. As a result, ENI's drilling vessel left the area. The disregard for Turkish Cyprus's rights in the region did not stop with the ENI vessel. Following the Turkish Navy's blockade of ENI, early in March, vessels from U.S. oil giant ExxonMobil and state-owned Qatar Petroleum consortium were reported to have arrived in the Eastern Mediterranean to conduct offshore drilling activities.

The island of Cyprus has been divided since 1974 into a predominantly Greek south, wh

ich is an EU member, and a Turkish north whose sovereignty is only recognized by Ankara.</s>Turkish overflights in the Aegean continued on Wednesday with two F-4 fighter jets entering Athens’s Flight Information Region (FIR), without submitting a flight plan, according to Greek military authorities.

 

 The aircraft entered Athens’s FIR at 2.50 p.m., flying over Panagia and Oinousses in the eastern Aegean at an altitude of 12,500 feet, authorities said.

On Monday, Greek soldiers fired warning shots at a Turkish helicopter after it approached a small Greek island in the eastern Aegean, in a dangerous escalation of tension between the two Aegean neighbors.</s>Soldiers fired tracer rounds towards the helicopter as it approached the island of Ro late on Monday night. After the shots – described as warning shots - had been fired, the chopper left the area. The Greek government accused Turkey of a provocative act after the aircraft approached with its navigation lights switched off. Tensions between Athens and Ankara have been escalating for months.

The current escalation began when the Greek Supreme Court blocked the extradition of eight Turkish soldiers who Ankara claims were involved in the country’s coup. Greece blocked the extradition saying they would not have a fair trial under President Erdogan. Last summer the captain of a Turkish freight ship said the Greek coast guard had opened fire on his vessel after he refused an order to dock at a port in the Aegean Sea. And last month two Greek soldiers were captured by Turkish military after they crossed the border.

Turkey accuses them of being spies, whereas Greece says the men simply got lost in fog and crossed the border by accident. Alexis Tsipras, the Greek prime minister, has demanded the release of the soldiers. He said: "In the past, we returned Turkish soldiers who crossed a few metres into Greece whilst on patrol. I expect the Turkish president to do the same.” He added that the soldiers should not be "pawns to power games and blackmail."

Greece’s defence minister Panos Kammenos says he has ordered the deployment of 7,000 additional military personnel to islands in the eastern Aegean Sea and the land border in Greece. He said: "If they have the guts, let them dare to challenge one inch of our territory. "The Greeks, united, will crush them. “What is needed is the vigilance of the entire Greek people in facing an opponent, an enemy that continues to provoke us.” Turkey and Greece came to the brink of war in 1996 over the ownership of uninhabited islets known as Imia in Greek and Kardak in Turkish.</s>Soldiers fired tracer rounds towards the helicopter as it approached the island of Ro late on Monday night. After the shots – described as warning shots - had been fired, the chopper left the area. The Greek government accused Turkey of a provocative act after the aircraft approached with its navigation lights switched off. Tensions between Athens and Ankara have been escalating for months.

The current escalation began when the Greek Supreme Court blocked the extradition of eight Turkish soldiers who Ankara claims were involved in the country’s coup. Greece blocked the extradition saying they would not have a fair trial under President Erdogan. Last summer the captain of a Turkish freight ship said the Greek coast guard had opened fire on his vessel after he refused an order to dock at a port in the Aegean Sea. And last month two Greek soldiers were captured by Turkish military after they crossed the border.

Turkey accuses them of being spies, whereas Greece says the men simply got lost in fog and crossed the border by accident. Alexis Tsipras, the Greek prime minister, has demanded the release of the soldiers. He said: "In the past, we returned Turkish soldiers who crossed a few metres into Greece whilst on patrol. I expect the Turkish president to do the same.” He added that the soldiers should not be "pawns to power games and blackmail."

Greece’s defence minister Panos Kammenos says he has ordered the deployment of 7,000 additional military personnel to islands in the eastern Aegean Sea and the land border in Greece. He said: "If they have the guts, let them dare to challenge one inch of our territory. "The Greeks, united, will crush them. “What is needed is the vigilance of the entire Greek people in facing an opponent, an enemy that continues to provoke us.” Turkey and Greece came to the brink of war in 1996 over the ownership of uninhabited islets known as Imia in Greek and Kardak in Turkish.</s>ATHENS – Reports have emerged that Greek troops fired warning tracer rounds at a Turkish helicopter that flew over over the islet of Ro, near the Dodecanese island of Kastellorizo, 1.25 miles off the Turkish coast in latest escalation of tension between the countries.

The helicopter was flying without its lights on at a low altitude at 11:30 p.m. on April 9, Kathimerini said, but the initial reports didn’t mention it was fired on

Defense Ministry sources told the paper that the rules of engagement were implemented and that Defense Minister Panos Kammenos was in constant contact with the head of the General Army Command (GES) and the Chief of Hellenic Armed Forces General Staff (GEETHA) when it happened and that Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was briefed.

Greek defense officials reportedly dismissed the incident as part of what it believes is designed to boost President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s popularity domestically and not to provoke a shooting conflict.

While Tsipras’ office said the incident was minor – even with shots fired – it added that a “night flight with the lights out is part of Turkey’s tactic of provocation from a safe distance which, however, carries the risk of an accident.”

There was no immediate comment from Erdogan although reports in the Turkish daily Hurriyet cited sources from the office of Prime Minister Binali Yildirim who denied it occurred.

In an earlier Tweet, the main opposition New Democracy’s shadow defense minister Vassilis Kikilias criticized the ministry for failing to provide details about the incident in which the shooting at the helicopter was not mentioned.

Meanwhile, Turkish fighter jets are continuing their regular violations of Greek airspace, following incursions on April 8 by two planes, breaking a customary Easter moratorium against such incidents that had been previously observed.

That happened when the Turkish F-16’s flew over Oinousses, a cluster of small islands in the northeastern Aegean, coming after a visit there by Kammenos to a military outpost.

Five new violations of Greek airspace and six infringements of the Athens Flight Information Region by Turkish aircraft were recorded by the Hellenic National Defence General Staff (HNDGS) on April 10, officials said.

Α Turkish CN-235 transport aircraft and a helicopter entered Greek airspace five times and two Turkish F-16 jets flew over the northeastern and southeastern Aegean before being chased away by Greek fighter jets who often engage their rivals in mock dogfights.</s>Greek soldiers fired warning shots at a Turkish helicopter after it approached a tiny Greek island in the eastern Aegean, in a dangerous escalation of tension between the regional rivals.

The island of Ro, which lies just a few miles off the Turkish coast, became the latest flashpoint between the neighbours after months of growing friction and nationalist rhetoric.

The incident, in which Greek soldiers reportedly fired tracer rounds towards the Turkish helicopter, happened late on Monday night.

After the shots were fired, the helicopter, which had buzzed the island at a low altitude, left the area.

"The order to fire the warning shots to force the helicopter to move off came in the context of stepped up surveillance and reaction measures adopted given the increase in tensions with Turkey," a Greek military source told AFP.

The source said the helicopter, apparently operated by the Turkish coastguard, flew along the outer limit of the air control identification zone between the two countries, both members of Nato.

The helicopter was flying with its navigation lights switched off in a deliberately provocative act, the Greek government said on Tuesday.</s>Only a day after the serious incident over the Isle of Ro when Greek soldiers fired warning shots in the air at a Turkish helicopter, Turkish pro-government newspaper “Yeni Safak” used a provocative main headline reading “If a Greek ship was hit and sunk”. Analysing a hypothetical war scenario, the author of the article entitled “If a Greek ship was hit and sunk”, examined the prospect of a possible false flag in the Aegean Sea in order for the Erdogan government to be blamed. The writer says that as tensions in the Aegean Sea rise between the two countries so does the possibility of an “accident”. He explores the prospect of the Turkish navy sinking a Greek missile boat or ship, which would result in all EU countries and the US forming a common alliance against Turkey.</s>Soldiers fired tracer rounds towards the helicopter as it approached the island of Ro late on Monday night. After the shots – described as warning shots - had been fired, the chopper left the area. The Greek government accused Turkey of a provocative act after the aircraft approached with its navigation lights switched off. Tensions between Athens and Ankara have been escalating for months.

The current escalation began when the Greek Supreme Court blocked the extradition of eight Turkish soldiers who Ankara claims were involved in the country’s coup. Greece blocked the extradition saying they would not have a fair trial under President Erdogan. Last summer the captain of a Turkish freight ship said the Greek coast guard had opened fire on his vessel after he refused an order to dock at a port in the Aegean Sea. And last month two Greek soldiers were captured by Turkish military after they crossed the border.

Turkey accuses them of being spies, whereas Greece says the men simply got lost in fog and crossed the border by accident. Alexis Tsipras, the Greek prime minister, has demanded the release of the soldiers. He said: "In the past, we returned Turkish soldiers who crossed a few metres into Greece whilst on patrol. I expect the Turkish president to do the same.” He added that the soldiers should not be "pawns to power games and blackmail."

Greece’s defence minister Panos Kammenos says he has ordered the deployment of 7,000 additional military personnel to islands in the eastern Aegean Sea and the land border in Greece. He said: "If they have the guts, let them dare to challenge one inch of our territory. "The Greeks, united, will crush them. “What is needed is the vigilance of the entire Greek people in facing an opponent, an enemy that continues to provoke us.” Turkey and Greece came to the brink of war in 1996 over the ownership of uninhabited islets known as Imia in Greek and Kardak in Turkish.</s>In the latest of a series of Turkish provocations against Greece, which highlights the ongoing tensions between the two countries, a Turkish helicopter flew at a low altitude over the Greek island of Ro on the evening of Easter Monday.

According to initial information, the helicopter performed manoeuvres at a low altitude over the island around 11:30 pm on Monday. Experts say the helicopter belonged to the Turkish coast guard and are surprised at its late night flight. It is unclear how long the aircraft remained in the Greek airspace.

According to reliable sources, the Greek Radar System had detected the entry of the Turkish helicopter into Greek national airspace.

Military sources told protothema.gr report that the Greek soldiers on guard at an outpost fired tracer bullets to interrupt the aircraft’s flight. The island of Ro is located close to the Turkish coastline and is near Kastelorizo in the southeast Mediterranean Sea.</s>"There were warning shots. This is an absolutely legitimate reaction on our part … These were the actions, which should have been taken under the existing modus operandi. The helicopter was flying about one mile away from the base at a low altitude. It was a Turkish Coast Guard helicopter," the source sad.

Ro, located near the Turkish coast, is host to a small military base.

READ MORE: No Alternative Ways to Peaceful Coexistence With Turkey — Greek Foreign Minister

The recent escalation between the two nations happened after a Turkish patrol boat rammed a Greek coast guard vessel off the island of Imia in the Aegean Sea in February. The strained relations can also be attributed to Turkey keeping two Greek border security guards, who had mistakenly entered Turkey amid bad weather conditions, in custody since March despite protests by Athens.
Greek soldiers fire warning shots at a Turkish helicopter over the Aegean Sea after it approaches the island of Ro.