Turkey calls on aircraft carrying Greek President to divert path over Greek isles

Turkey gone to a new level of provocations towards Greece, after a Greek aircraft carrying the President of the Hellenic Republic, Prokopis Pavlopoulos, was prompted to divert from its flight path as Turkish authorities claimed it was in Turkish airspace Wednesday morning. The Greek President is on a tour of the Greek islands in the Aegean Sea and was on his way to the island of Kyra Panagia in the Sporades complex. According to reports, the pilots ignored the warnings and proceeded to land. The new provocation comes on the heels of Tuesday’s incident when Turkey issued a Navtex that informed the sea vessel TCG Cesme would be sailing in the vicinity of Kastelorizo, the east-most Greek island for scientific research and therefore blocking all access to an area overlapping waters overlapping and area that is under Greek jurisdiction. The area is in international waters between the island of Rhodes and south of the coast of Kastelorizo and corresponds to a region in the Greek continental shelf that Turkey has constantly disputed. Scientific research in international waters does not require a permit by the seacoast nation, except the communication to others and the issuing of the necessary NAVTEX. The fact that the Turkish vessel communicated its path to Turkish authorities and not Greece is an indication that Turkey is attempting to dispute Greek sovereign rights in the Aegean Sea.