Greek, Turkish leaders meet on tensions over Aegean flyovers
ATHENS, Greece — Greece’s prime minister told his Turkish counterpart Monday that airspace violations over the Aegean must stop as they increase the risk of a military accident in the sea between the two uneasy neighbours and NATO allies.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said he and Turkish counterpart Binali Yildirim, who was on a one-day visit to Greece, agreed to maintain open channels of communication between them in an effort to reduce potential military tensions arising from airspace violations.
The two countries have come close to war three times in the past half-century. The most recent time was in 1996, over who owns a couple of uninhabited islets in the eastern Aegean Sea.
Greece and Turkey stand far apart on many fronts, including Aegean boundaries, undersea exploration rights and the war-divided island of Cyprus, which is split between Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot communities.