Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement on today’s harassment of a helicopter carrying Minister of National Defence, Nikos Panagiotopoulos,and Chief of the Hellenic National Defence General Staff

We condemn in the strongest possible terms today’s provocative harassment by Turkish aircraft of the helicopter carrying the Minister of National Defence, Nikos Panagiotopoulos, and the Chief of the Hellenic National Defence General Staff, General Konstantinos Floros.

This is yet another unacceptable Turkish action. An action that once again confirms the negative role Turkey is playing in the region through its persistence on anachronistic approaches to international relations and on  violations of international legality that lead nowhere.

We call on Turkey to enter the 21st century and to follow the example of Greece and the other countries of the region by working constructively within the framework of the rules of good neighbourliness and to respect, rather than systematically violate, international law.