New illegal Turkish NAVTEX in the Nautical Geo research area

Turkey, in order to prevent the navigation and the soundings being conducted by the NAUTICAL GEO research vessel, is proceeding with the commitment of the region and naval exercises. The freezing of an area with illegal NAVTEX is from today until October 5.

Ankara blames Greece and Cyprus in advance

Turkey is directly threatening a hot episode as is clear from yesterday’s announcement by the Turkish Foreign Ministry in which it is trying to blame Greece and Cyprus in advance for the tension that it predicts will be created in the region, demanding the cancellation of legal activities in the Cyprus EEZ, concerning the research of Nautical Geo for the mapping of the route that will follow the East Med pipeline.

At the same time, Turkey is not limited to words. As it became known yesterday, Saturday, on Thursday morning in Ikaria, under the responsibility of Turkey, we came close to an incident similar to Imia, with the victim then being squadron leader Konstantinos Iliakis.

According to information, on Thursday, during the dogfights, a Turkish fighter pilot proceeded to a dangerous intersection with a Greek F-16 during an interception.

A total of 8 Turkish F-16s in the formation of four pairs, of which 6 armed, violated the National Airspace between Chios – Samos. Eight Greek fighters – all armed – that were in the air began the interception procedures.

On Thursday morning, a pair of Turkish fighters entered Greek airspace, while at the same time a corresponding Greek pair of F-16 fighters took off. The Greek fighters intercepted the Turkish F-16s, however, the Turkish fighters did not obey the orders, resulting in a deadlock. The two sides engaged in dogfights, however one of the Turkish fighters made a sharp move, and passed in front of the Greek one and the worst was avoided at the last minute.

It is worth noting that Turkey, which is threatening a hot incident on the occasion of the Nautical Geo investigations in the Cyprus EEZ, sent a frigate 10 miles from Crete a few days ago to harass the French research ship that was also investigating the seabed for the placement of the EastMed pipeline.

It is pointed out that on Friday alone, there were 66 violations of Greek airspace as well as four overflights.