Greek Prime Minister accuses Turkey of undermining European security, suspends dialogue with Ankara

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Thursday described as "unacceptable" the new violations of Greek airspace by Turkish fighter jets and said that this type of behaviour "undermines European security". 

Mitostakis told a press conference with his Finnish counterpart, Sanna Marin, that he had informed NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg this morning of these "new provocations", the "dangerous overflight" of Turkish planes over some Greek islands. 

On Wednesday, 126 incursions into Greek airspace - the highest number ever in a single day - were recorded by Turkish F-16 fighter jets and drones, which also flew over 30 Greek islands, some of them inhabited.

"I have made it clear that this kind of behaviour by a NATO ally is unacceptable and undermines European security, especially at a time when it is essential that we stand united against Russia's aggression against Ukraine," the conservative leader stressed. 

Mitsotakis used his statements to lash out at the Ankara government, which he reproached for not having aligned itself with any of the sanctions approved by the European Union against Russia. "This is not the behaviour of a country that aspires to join the European family", he said.

Mitsotakis' intervention comes after government spokesman Yannis Ikonomu announced that Greece has decided to freeze confidence-building measures with Turkey after a record number of violations of its airspace in a single day by Turkish military fighters. 

"Turkish actions are unacceptable, they constitute a violation of the country's sovereignty and this is a provocation that will not go unanswered," Ikonomu commented on the freezing of Greek-Turkish Confidence Building Measures meetings.

Ikonomu added that the Turkish provocations "are in no way in line with the spirit and content of the recent meeting of the prime minister with the Turkish president". 

Foreign Secretary General Temistoklis Demiris, acting on the minister's orders, reproached Turkey for its actions, which he said "contradict the principles of international legality". "Turkey's actions create a climate of particular tension in the region" and "undermine the cohesion of NATO at a particularly critical moment in the region in general," adds a statement issued today by the Greek Foreign Ministry. 

In recent years, Greece has already reproached Turkey for similar behaviour for violations of its airspace on several occasions over the Aegean, which Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan describes as "grey zones".