Very tasty.
Posted on 02/17/2012 8:26:41 PM PST by sukhoi-30mki
Turkey-Greece engage in mock dogfights over Cyprus as Israeli PM arrives
GREEK AND Turkish jets tangled in mock dogfights in Cypriot airspace yesterday just as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was arriving on the island, reports said.
According to Sigma, around 11am three Greek Mirage-2000 fighters began shadowing two Turkish F-16 jets after the latter flew between Rhodes and Crete on their way from the eastern Mediterranean where Turkish ships were conducting wargames with live ammunition.
The Turkish military exercise, the Foreign Minister said earlier, took place within Cyprus’ Exclusive Economic Zone, in waters south of the island and close to, or inside, Block 12.
The Greek jets reportedly pursued the Turkish fighters all the way back into the Nicosia Flight Information Region, at which point the Turkish planes changed course and headed off toward the Turkish mainland.
Meanwhile Greek Foreign Minister Stavros Dimas yesterday referred to Turkey’s continuing challenges to Greece’s airspace and sovereign rights, urging Ankara to respect international law and the Law of the Sea.
“It is a behaviour that must stop. Greece defends its rights. Unfortunately, instead of talking today about what unites us, we see challenges that undermine the prospects for improvement of our relations”, Dimas said.
He was speaking during a joint press conference in Athens with NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
“As we have repeatedly emphasized in the past, Greece and Cyprus do not intend to follow Turkey in the rise of threats and challenges”, Dimas added.
Very tasty.
This kind of action could get real ugly real fast....
You know, I don’t trust the Turks, but this is an awfully convenient time for the Greek government to have a little international incident on its hands to rally their citizens and perhaps distract them from burning the country down.
Turks and Greeks playing grab-ass in the air?
SNL skit in 3...2...1...
It’s ok. I’m certain Obama will sit down with Turkey and talk turkey.
This is all in response to the chumminess between Cyprus and Israel.
In January they signed an agreement protecting natural gas drilling sites (from Turkey) and demarcating the gas field boundary between them.
In return, rumor has it, Israel will use the Papandreou airbase at Paphos, Cyprus. The base used to host Greek F-16s.
Last Thursday they signed a bilateral search-and-rescue agreement that allows IDF overflight and landings on Cyprus.
http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=258126
According to Sigma, around 11am three Greek Mirage-2000 fighters began shadowing two Turkish F-16 jets after the latter flew between Rhodes and Crete on their way from the eastern Mediterranean where Turkish ships were conducting wargames with live ammunition. The Turkish military exercise, the Foreign Minister said earlier, took place within Cyprus' Exclusive Economic Zone, in waters south of the island and close to, or inside, Block 12.
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