Greek and Turkish fighter jets collide

Greek and Turkish fighter jets collided over the Aegean Sea island of Karpathos today as they shadowed each other.

Greek and Turkish fighter planes frequently intercept each other over the Aegean, mostly in areas of disputed airspace.

“It appears the incident occurred while the Greek plane was intercepting the Turkish jet,” said Greek government spokesman Evangelos Antonaros said.

The Turkish military issued a statement identifying both planes as F-16 fighter jets. It said the Turkish pilot, 1st Lt. Lieutenant Halil Ibrahim Ozdemir, was rescued unhurt by a merchant ship. Greek authorities said a search was underway for the pilot of the Greek plane.

Greece says its national airspace extends to 10 miles, but Turkey recognises only six miles – the same distance as territorial waters. Long-standing disputes over airspace and territorial rights in the Aegean have nearly led to three wars between the two Nato allies since 1974.

Relations between Greece and Turkey have been steadily deteriorating in recent months, despite Athens’ promotion of Turkey’s candidacy to join the European Union and Premier Costas Caramanalis’ personal friendship with Turkish Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Turkey’s Defence Minister Vecdi Gonul said his country’s chief of staff was in contact with his Greek counterpart over the incident.

“As the obstruction was taking place an F-16 belonging to the Turkish Air Forces crashed in the air with an F-16 belonging to the Greek Air Forces and both planes fell,” the Turkish military said, adding that the incident was under investigation.

The Greek Defence Ministry said the planes crashed into the sea 12 miles south of Karpathos.

The Greek jet was based at Souda Air Force base on the island of Crete.

It was also reported today that two Italian F-16 jet fighters collided over the Mediterranean sea during a training exercise. The two pilots ejected and were unharmed.

The collision occurred last night 10 miles off the coast of Sardinia, said Amedeo Magnani, a spokesman with the Italian Air Force.

The pilots, who parachuted into the sea, were immediately rescued, he said.

The cause of the collision was not immediately clear.