Tensions between Greece and Turkey have intensified sharply in recent days, with Turkish military activity in the Aegean coinciding with increasingly assertive statements over Ankara’s maritime claims.On August 18, Turkish military aircraft and drones recorded 25 violations of Greek airspace and 14 breaches of air-traffic rules within the Athens FIR. Two of the Turkish F-16s involved were armed, while a simulated dogfight with Greek aircraft further raised concerns about the risk of an incident. The escalation comes alongside the return of Ankara’s longstanding “gray zone” claims, under which Turkey disputes Greek sovereignty over certain Aegean islets and formations. Selcuk Bayraktar, chairman of defense company Baykar and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s son-in-law, recently declared that Turkey would “never give up” any part of what Ankara considers its Blue Homeland. The rhetoric and military activity mark a notable shift from the relative calm that followed the 2023 Greek-Turkish declaration on good-neighborly relations. While communication channels between Athens and Ankara remain open, the latest developments suggest that the underlying disputes over sovereignty, maritime zones and airspace remain unresolved. The combination of intensified air activity, renewed gray-zone claims and increasingly prominent references to Blue Homeland is raising concerns in Athens that Turkey is returning to a more confrontational approach in the Aegean. For Greece, the immediate priority is preventing an escalation while maintaining its position that its sovereignty and territorial rights are not negotiable. For Turkey, the renewed rhetoric signals that Ankara intends to preserve its longstanding maritime claims despite the period of relative diplomatic calm. | 
Δεν υπάρχουν σχόλια:
Δημοσίευση σχολίου