PM's office: Helicopter near Ro is no major incident
- Written by E.Tsiliopoulos
A briefing on what happened near the island of Ro was leaked through the Prime Minister's office. "We do not consider the incident to be major, because we did not have a violation of national airspace," government sources stated on the incident of yesterday's low flight of a Turkish helicopter near the island of Ro. However, as they point out, "Turkish provocations pose risks of accidents".
According to sources at the Maximos Mansion, "the Turkish helicopter was flying next to the boundaries of the Greek airspace with lights turned off and there was no violation". "We acted proactively and the incident has ended," they add.
"However, the night flight with lights off near the islands is part of a tactic of safe provocation on the part of Turkey, but it carries risks of accidents," government sources say.
The incident with the Turkish Coast Guard helicopter that made a low flight to Ro around 22:30 on Easter Monday is refuted by the Turkish Prime Minister's office, according to sources of Hurriyet newspaper.
The Turkish newspaper transmits the Greek media's coverage of the incident and, according to a communication with the Turkish Prime Minister's office, they denied that it had happened.
The incident took place at approximately 23.30 on Monday night. According to sources from the Ministry of Defense, the Turkish helicopter did not fly over the island, but it was flying at a low height near the island and its perimeter.
According to sources of the Ministry of Defense quoted by "Kathimerini", all the rules of engagement were applied, while the Minister of National Defense was in constant contact from the very first moment with the head of the Army General Staff and the chief of the National Defense General Staff, and the prime minister was informed.
Onalert.gr says high-ranking officers "estimated the military helicopter flight over our border island yesterday as an attempt to measure Greek psychology and Greek reflexes. The message they received was clear," the same source said to onalert.gr.
According to other information, on Tuesday morning, a meeting was held at the MoD to analyze the facts of the incident. Note that this is the second such incident occurring during the Easter holidays. It should be noted that on Easter and in violation of the informal agreement, which provides for no flights of fighter aircraft in the Aegean during the days of national or major religious feasts in Greece and Turkey, two Turkish F-16s flew successively over the island of Oinousses. This, while a few hours earlier, Panos Kammenos was on the island with the head of the Army General Staff.
