| Greek warplanes harassed Turkish jets during exercise over Aegean Sea |
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14 novembre 2004
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AP - Turkey’s foreign minister on Wednesday charged that Greek warplanes twice harassed a pair of Turkish jets during an exercise over the Aegean Sea, and he urged Greece to take measures to prevent such incidents. The Turkish complaint came after Greece protested several times to Turkey over alleged violations of its airspace and territorial waters. Athens warned Ankara that such behavior could hurt its prospects of joining the European Union. Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said in a statement that two Greek F-4 fighter jets on Tuesday harassed two Turkish F-16s in the north of the Greek island of Limnos during the planned Eastern Mediterranean-04 exercise. The Greek warplanes approached the Turkish jets to a distance of 500 feet (152 meters) from the rear and eight minutes later two other Greek F-16s « very dangerously » approached the Turkish jets, Gul said. Gul said Turkish Air Force notified a NATO plane which was monitoring the Turkish exercise, and that the Greek jets left the area after being warned by the NATO aircraft. Gul said that the first pair of Greek jets took off from Limnos, which should have been demilitarized under a 1947 agreement. « We expect our Greek friends to positively respond to our wish and take necessary measures to prevent reoccurrence of such unfortunate incidents, » Gul said. Turkey and Greece have long standing territorial disputes. Greece says its national airspace extends to 10 miles (16 kilometers), but Turkey recognizes only six miles (10 kilometers) _ the same distance as territorial waters _ often leading to accusations of violations. Long-standing disputes over airspace and territorial rights in the Aegean have nearly led to three wars between the two NATO allies since 1974.
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