The Turkish Defense Minister flies on an F-16 in the framework of tensions with Greece

Sep. 2 () –

The Turkish Defense Minister, Hulusi Akar, flew this Friday on an F-16 fighter jet after assuring in a speech that Greece’s “provocations, actions and aggressive rhetoric” continue in the framework of recent tensions between the two countries for an incident in the Mediterranean Sea.

“These are extremely hostile and wrong actions (by Greece),” Akar said at a ceremony to mark the beginning of the new year of the Air Force in the central province of Eskisehir, according to the Anatolia news agency.

Akar has thus warned that Ankara will continue to respond to the “impertinence” of Athens and has recalled that the Turkish planes were harassed by the Greek S-300 air defense system on the island of Crete.

“They intercepted our F-16s, which were doing their NATO duty,” he said, adding that they will not back down as they have always “sensitively protected” their rights and interests and will continue to do so.

The Turkish Defense Ministry explained last week that a group of F-16s flew over the Mediterranean Sea on August 23 west of the island of Rhodes, when the Greek side used S-300 surface-to-air missiles to identify the Turkish planes. .

Turkey reminded Athens after the incident that the radar jamming of warplanes from a NATO-allied country was a “hostile act” and accused Greece of breaching NATO regulations. Athens, for its part, denied threatening the F-16s with its S-300 systems.