Athens calls F-16 dog-fight "accident" not "harassment" for first time
In reports provided to the Turkish Foreign Ministry and the military forces following the mid-air dog-fight which ended in a crash involving two F-16 fighter planes, one from Turkey and the other from Greece, some striking developments were noted by investigators.
Foremost among these was that the Greek forces, for the first time ever, have referred to the dog-fight, many of which have occured before over the Aegean, in their own reports not as "harassment" but as an "accident." This is a significant detail, in that it means Athens is not claiming, as it has in the past, that Turkish air force had infringed on Greek air space. The "accident" reference makes it clear that it was international air space.
Diplomatic sources note that, while Turkey has been regularly updating NATO on its flights through Aegean and eastern Aegean international air space, Greece has not been doing the same. Said one authority, "What this means is that Greek forces are aware of our flights in that area. So they should not interpret a Turkish fighter in the air there as an enemy force."
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