Alkiviadis Stefanis

Deputy Defense Minister Alkiviadis Stefanis said on Thursday that Greece is maintaining dialogue with Turkey but that the country's armed forces are on standby.

"Diplomacy is the first choice," he told Skai radio. "We have open channels of communication but the armed forces are ready to do what is necessary in coordination with the Foreign Ministry," he added.

Deputy Defense Minister Alkiviadis Stefanis said migration is a "matter of national security" and is being handled as such, while expressing support for a plan to install a floating barrier in the Aegean Sea to prevent migrant boats from entering Greece's waters.

Greece's Hellenic Navy launched a search and rescue operation on Wednesday to locate the missing, sole inhabitant of the small island of Kinaros, the second westernmost island of the Dodecanese.

The elderly woman has not been seen or heard of in three days, Greek television channel Skai reported.

Intent on maintaining a charged atmosphere in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean during the holidays, Ankara conducted a barrage of Greek airspace violations over the last three days.

Christmas Eve afternoon was a busy one for the Greek Air Force, having to counter three Turkish intrusions into Greek airspace.

Greece can become a hub for the maintenance and upgrading of US military helicopters, Deputy Defense Minister Alkiviadis Stefanis says in an interview with Kathimerini in which he sees opportunities for broader industrial growth in the defense sector. Stefanis also argues that Greece is Turkey's "fifth or sixth problem," as Ankara is currently preoccupied with Syria.

Seeking to stem rising migrant flows into Greece, a government plan is currently under way to seal land borders and improve sea surveillance "from one end of the Aegean to the other."

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mistotakis called for the strengthening of Greece's defense industry in order to boost the "operational readiness" of the country's armed forces during a visit on Wednesday to the Defense Ministry. 

The further enhancement of Greek-Israeli military cooperation was discussed during the three-day visit to Israel by the Chief of the Hellenic Army General Staff, Lieutenant General Alkiviadis Stefanis, at the invitation of Major Yaacov Barak, Chief of the Ground Forces Command.

Greek Defense Minister Panos Kammenos said on Sunday he hoped the two Greek servicemen who gave been detained in a prison in Edirne after inadvertently crossing into Turkey during a border patrol last month will soon be able to return home.