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Greek Forces on Alert Following 'Provocations' from Turkey

Anthee Carassava

   ATHENS - Greece has lodged a stiff demarche with Turkey claiming
   Turkish officials ordered fighter jets to buzz a military helicopter
   carrying Greece's defense minister over the Aegean sea. Turkey denies
   the accusation, saying Greece --in the words of Turkish officials --is
   over dramatizing what Ankara says are'¯routine flights in the region.
   The government in Athens is concerned that '¯a fresh standoff in the
   Aegean could scare travelers who are starting to make vacation plans to
   the Greek islands once the coronavirus emergency ends.
   Greek government spokesman Stelios Petsas said Greece was ready to
   resist any Turkish provocation.
   He said harassment of the Greek defense minister's plane by a group of
   Turkish warplanes over the Aegean Sea was indicative of what he called
   Turkey's practice of breaching good neighbor relations and
   international rules.
   Greece and Turkey have had a long history of testy relations, each
   challenging the other's claims to air, sea and land rights in the
   Aegean Sea that divides them.

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