A formation of six Turkish fighter jets violated Greek national air space over the northeastern and southeastern Aegean on Tuesday, according to Greek defence officials.
The Turkish jets, which were flanked by another three electronic-warfare aircraft that were not a part of the formation, carried out a total of eight transgressions, without determining whether any of the aircraft were armed or whether any dogfights occurred.
The reported violations took place in Greek airspace over the north, central, and southern Aegean Sea.
On a previous chase which took place last week, two of the Turkish jets were carrying armaments and a tense close-quarters confrontation occurred between the neighbouring countries’ jets.
The island-filled stretch of water separating Turkey and Greece contains maritime boundaries that are a persistent source of disagreement between the two countries.
Although violations happen with frequency between the two countries, Turkey and Greece have seen a rapid increase in incidents since 2013.
“In the first month of 2014 alone, Turkish aircraft allegedly violated Greek airspace 1,017 times,” Metin Gurcan, who reports for Al-Monitor, confirms.
“This was twice the number of total airspace violations between the two countries for the first half of 2013.”
In all cases, the Turkish jets were chased off by Greek aircraft, as usually occurs in the case of such incursions.