Turkey accuses Greek fighter jets of harassing its warplanes over Aegean Sea

Greek warplanes harassed Turkish military trainer aircraft by putting them under radar-lock while flying over the Aegean Sea, the Turkish General Staff said in a statement on Thursday.

The Turkish Air Force's two F-16 war jets and four F-4 E/2020 aircrafts were performing training flights over the Aegean Sea near Chios Island when two Greek F-4/2000 planes placed them under radar lock two times, 30 seconds for each, said the statement.

Turkish and Greek warplanes have previously engaged in dogfights over the Aegean Sea many times, as two countries are at odds over the boundaries of their airspace over the area due to a long-standing territorial dispute.

"Dogfights" had significantly decreased for a couple of years due to the economic crisis Athens is struggling with and the talks Turkey and Greece have been in to resolve their disagreements on the continental shelf over the Aegean Sea. But recently the number of "dogfights" increased.

Athens unilaterally claims 10 nautical miles (19 km) of airspace, as opposed to the six nautical miles (11.4 km) of territorial waters as Turkey accepts. Endit