Quotes of the Day

Posted Thursday, May 25, 2006

Greek rescue teams searched the southeast Aegean Sea Tuesday after a Greek warplane and Turkish fighter jet collided in disputed airspace. Defense Ministry officials in Ankara said the Turkish combat pilot ejected from his F-16 aircraft and was rescued by a commercial vessel, near the Greek island of Karpathos. Three military helicopters and a fleet of coast guard vessels were searching for the Greek F-16 pilot, military officials in Athens said. "We have no signs that the Greek pilot managed to eject," said Yannis Papageorgiou, spokesman for the Hellenic Air Force.

Greek and Turkish warplanes frequently engage in mock dog fights because of their countries' conflicting claims to the mineral- and oil-rich Aegean Sea. Tuesday's crash, however, marked the first between enemy warplanes over the Aegean. The two warplanes collided 21 nautical miles southeast of Karpathos after shadowing each other in a mid-day mock dog fight over the Greek island, near Rhodes. Both planes were armed but there was no exchange of fire, Papageorgiou said.

The official said the crash occurred after the Turkish pilot steered his aircraft into the Greek Flight and Information Region, prompting a formation of two Greek jet-fighters to scramble and intercept it from an Air Force base in Crete, southern Greece. Greece has long argued a 10-mile exclusion zone around its coast. Turkey, however, recognizes only a six-mile zone and says it has a right to train in international airspace.

The dispute, among the thorniest in Greek-Turkish relations, has had warplanes from both sides engaging in a near daily drill of mock combat maneuvers over contested parts of the Aegean. In April alone, Turkish jets violated Greek airspace no less than 53 times, Hellenic Air Force officials said Tuesday. Although formally they are NATO allies, Greece and Turkey came to the brink of war in 1996 over contesting claims to a barren outcrop in the southeast Aegean. Relations between the two states improved in recent years, mainly because of Greece's support for Turkey's accession to the European Union.

Long-standing differences, however, over airspace and territorial rights, capped by a fresh spate of aerial dogs fights have tested ties in recent weeks. On May 11, Turkish officials accused Athens of sending Greek fighter jets to harass Turkish jets during a search and rescue drill in the Aegean.

Thus far the crash has prompted little response from both countries' political elite. Most importantly, though, pundits and politicians here questioned whether the unprecedented accident would push Greece and Turkey to finally resolve bilateral differences. Theodore Couloumbis, general director of the ELIAMEP think tank in Athens, was emphatic: "Don't bet on it." "But what's comforting to see," he added, "is that both sides are opting to work together and de-escalate the incident. Had this happened a decade ago, we would living a near-war crisis now."

• ANTHEE CARASSAVA / Athens
• Tensions rise after a fighter plane crash over the Aegean