Turkish jets have stepped up sorties over inhabited Greek islands, increasing tensions between Aegean neighbours Greece and Turkey, Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyanni said in an interview on Wednesday. Bakoyanni told Reuters she would raise the issue with her Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu when they meet for the first time at an informal meeting of OSCE foreign ministers on the island of Corfu this weekend.
"The constant overflights by Turkish jets over inhabited Greek islands do not help improve the atmosphere between the two countries and I hope discussions with Mr Davutoglu will help, to begin with, to change this atmosphere," said Bakoyanni, whose country holds the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) presidency.
The Nato allies came to the brink of war as recently as 1996 over a deserted Aegean islet but tensions had since eased. Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis' visit to Turkey in January 2008 was seen as crowning 10 years of warming ties.
But little progress has been made since and Greece has said Turkey had made no effort to defuse long-running territorial disputes and other differences. Their fighter jets still stage mock dog fights in disputed airspace. "These overflights over inhabited islands have increased in the last few months, and have caused concern in Greece and, I believe, among our EU partners," Bakoyanni said.