Escalation of her aggressive behavior Turkey against our country, by practically challenging the national sovereignty of Greece in the air and at sea, to demonstrate evidence offenders the actions of Turkish fighters, as well as the Navy and Coast Guard of the neighbor.

Perhaps most characteristic of all is the fact that, as evidenced by events, the current year will be the worst year in a period of 14 years, since, based on what was announced for the period from January to July, there were 4,734 violations of the national airspace. That is, only 77 less than in the whole of 2019, during which a record number of violations (4811) of our national airspace were recorded.

“K” represents today some consolidated data from 2009 through the first seven months of this year., through which Ankara’s ever-increasing criminal activities are clearly revealed, which, as repeatedly pointed out by the Greek side in public forums, is a constant and serious threat to peace and stability in the region, while at the same time it is constantly fraught with the risk of a serious accident . Moreover, now Ankara is increasingly overflying the Greek islands.

Escalation of problems

The use of UAVs is more often from Ankara, which also overflights the Greek islands with great frequency.

In this regard, the existence of a serious risk due to the escalation of the Turkish provocation is indicated by the fact that:

• The first, there has been an increase in the number of crescent-winged fighters invading areas under Greek sovereignty and controlled by the Athens FIR armed.
• Secondly, the number of cases when Turkish pilots refuse to obey the actions of the Greek Air Force to intercept them on the basis of international law has increased, which leads to clashes – virtual dogfights.

With regard to the first, it is characteristic to note that in 2019, out of 2118 Turkish militants involved in criminal activities, 344 were armed. We have data on provocative infiltrations into the Athens FIR or into our national airspace in 2009 involving a total of 3,078 Turkish aircraft, but “only” 395 of them are armed.

As for the second, we had a record number of battles (423), according to the General Staff of National Defense, in 2020. In the same context, Ankara’s choice to send its aircraft not only fighter jets, but also – especially the latest space – unmanned UAVs, to fly over the Greek islands and islets. A record in this area was also recorded in 2020 – 376 flights. This year, according to available data, we had 138 overflights until July last year.

Milestone in 2020

The year 2020, however, seems to be a “milestone” in Turkish transgressive behavior, since, in addition to radio waves, we also had records of provocative actions from Ankara in the waters of the Aegean, with ships from the Turkish fleet and coast. protection, repeatedly violating the national territorial waters of Greece.

In particular, according to GOTA, there were 3,215 such incidents that year. The second year at this level, that is, with the largest number of violations of maritime borders by a maritime neighbor, was 2019, when 2,202 incidents occurred.