The State Department “covers” Turkish flights over the territory of Greece

The State Department has once again chosen the policy of “Pontius Pilate”, which, in fact, is a kind of discriminatory neutrality in favor of Turkey, according to the authors of the Greek publication DefenseNet.

When asked by an American journalist about how much the United States is concerned about Turkish overflights over the Greek islands, and how these actions affect the stability of NATO, State Department spokesman Ned Price once again spoke in general terms: “We call on all countries to respect the sovereign airspace of other countries and use government aircraft with due regard to the safety of navigation of civil aircraft”.

In the past, this phrase would not have had much meaning if it had not been preceded by a statement by the Turkish Foreign Minister alleging that Greek fighter jets flew west of Imbros into Turkish airspace.

Turkey has started this practice in recent days. Whenever it violates Greek airspace and Turkish fighter jets fly over Greek territory, it announces that the Greek Air Force has done it before and therefore the Turkish Air Force is taking “retaliatory measures”. Immediately after that, the United States announced and made a statement in the “spirit” of “all others respecting the airspace.”

The State Department said today:

“In your first question about Turkish flights, we call on all countries to respect the sovereign airspace of other countries and use government aircraft with due regard to the safety of navigation of civilian aircraft. Where there is disagreement over the boundaries of a country’s airspace, we call for coordination and discussion rather than provocative action that could lead to fatal accidents. In principle, we call on all states to resolve the issues of maritime delimitation peacefully and in accordance with international law.”

It is worth noting here that the US does not recognize Greek airspace of ten nautical miles, since Greece accepts territorial waters of six nautical miles.

Recall that yesterday Ankara, flying 4.5 km from Alexandroupoli, “laughed” at the Greek air defense system, which, unfortunately, despite the sacrifices and efforts of the Greek people and the armed forces, is “silent” by order of the Mitsotakis government. Turkish fighters flew 2.5 miles from Alexandroupolis and no “shots” were heard. So what do they expect from the government? Bomb us to answer?

Of course, the Turkish Foreign Minister denies accusations of violation of Greek airspace by Turkish aircraft and puts the blame on Greece.

According to a press release from Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Tanju Bilgits:

“An F-16 aircraft of the Hellenic Air Force violated our airspace west of Imvros (Gokceada) on May 16, 2022 and west of the Enez area on May 17, 2022. Our Air Force provided the necessary response to these provocative violations on May 18 in accordance with the rules of reciprocity and interactions. Greece is once again trying to create an image of our country in international public opinion, using the tension that it has created with its provocative actions. In this context, we completely reject the baseless allegations and accusations leveled against our country by the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs in its statement of May 20, and strongly condemn Greece’s violations of our airspace.”

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