Turkey continues to challenge Greek sovereign rights on the ground. Ankara claims it has asked Athens to earmark 5 areas from north to south in the Aegean for "search and rescue and environmental protection" drills from January 24 to February 25.
Since Athens apparently did not proceed with the binding of these areas as this would essentially divide the Aegean, isolating the Eastern Aegean islands to Turkey's satisfaction, Ankara proceeded to issue an illegal NOTAM with the coordinates of these areas.
At the same time, while Turkey has no problem reserving areas for her own drills, she protested against a Greek aeronautical exercise reminding with an equally illegal NOTAM that Chios and Samos are islands that should be demilitarized.
Of course, in both cases, Athens reacted by canceling the first Turkish NOTAM and normally applying its own for the drill between Chios and Samos, stressing to the Turkish side that it will normally carry out its exercises in the specific area.
Let us recall here that regarding the Athens FIR, Greece's position is as follows:
"On December 7, 1944, the Convention on International Civil Aviation was signed in Chicago, which provided for the establishment of an International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). ICAO, with regional Air Navigation Agreements, established the limits of the areas of responsibility of each of its member states for the control of the airspace (Flight Information Region-FIR). The Athens FIR was demarcated in the context of the European regional air navigation conferences of 1950, 1952 and 1958.
The Athens FIR covers the Greek national airspace and additionally scattered parts of the international airspace, given that it does not concern issues of sovereignty, but of jurisdiction.
Turkey was present at the above conferences from the beginning and accepted the definition of the airspace for which Greece was designated responsible.
In accordance with ICAO rules and international practice, Greece requires, for civil flight safety reasons, that all aircraft, civil and military, submit flight plans before entering the Athens FIR.
Nevertheless, in August 1974, Turkey arbitrarily issued NOTAM 714 ("notice to airmen") attempting to extend its area of jurisdiction to the middle of the Aegean within the Athens FIR. Greece then declared the Aegean a dangerous area (NOTAM 1157). ICAO appealed to both sides without success. Finally, Ankara, in 1980, again unilaterally, revoked NOTAM 714 when it found that the measure harmed its interests and especially its tourism.
However, Turkey since then, arguing that the Chicago Convention does not apply to state aircraft, has consistently refused to submit flight plans for its military aircraft entries into the Athens FIR, thus committing numerous violations of the Air Traffic Rules and creating risks to the safety of civil aviation.
In this context, the Hellenic Air Force is forced to carry out procedures to identify unknown aircraft traces to the competent air traffic authorities, which have entered the Athens FIR without having submitted a flight plan".
