Tuesday, May 26, 2026

GREEK REPORTER - Turkish Jets Violate Greek Airspace - By Tasos Kokkinidis May 26, 2026

 GREEK  REPORTER

Turkish Jets Violate Greek Airspace

Fighter jets over the Aegean.
Greek jets intercepted Turkish warplanes. Credit: Geetha

A group of armed Turkish warplanes violated Greece’s airspace on several occasions on Monday and became involved in a simulated dogfight with Greek jets sent to intercept them in a new sign of tension between the two neighbors.

Two F-16 fighter jets and a pair of CN-235 transports of a type Turkey uses for marine surveillance were involved in the incidents over the Aegean Sea, where Greece’s airspace was breached ten times, according to Greek officials.

It was the second simulated dogfight recorded so far this year, with the first in March, according to Greece’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. A total 159 violations have been recorded since January 1, compared to 225 for the whole of 2025, when only one simulated dogfight took place, in December.

Neither airspace violations nor dogfights were reported in 2024, but in 2023, there were 1,172 violations and 87 simulated dogfights, according to Greek military data. In 2022, Turkey violated the airspace of Greece more than ten thousand times.

Tensions between Greece and Turkey were high in 2020, when Turkey encouraged thousands of migrants to try to force their way into the neighboring country across the Evros land border. Months later, a Greek and a Turkish frigate lightly collided amid a dispute over offshore gas exploration rights, but the situation did not escalate further.

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