Greeks fire warning shots at ‘provocative’ Turkish helicopter

GREEK soldiers fired warning shots at a Turkish helicopter after it approached a tiny Greek island in the eastern Aegean, in a dangerous escalation of tension between the regional rivals.

The island of Ro, which lies just a few miles off the Turkish coast, became the latest flashpoint between the neighbours after months of growing friction and nationalist rhetoric.

The incident, in which Greek soldiers reportedly fired tracer rounds towards the Turkish helicopter, happened late on Monday. After the shots were fired, the helicopter, which had buzzed the island at a low altitude, left the area.

“The order to fire the warning shots to force the helicopter to move off came in the context of stepped-up surveillance and reaction measures adopted given the increase in tensions with Turkey,” a Greek military source said. The source said the helicopter, apparently operated by the Turkish coastguard, flew along the outer limit of the air control identification zone between the two countries, both Nato members.

The helicopter was flying with its navigation lights switched off in a deliberately provocative act, the Greek government said yesterday.

Ro lies just to the west of the larger island of Kastellorizo, which is popular with British tourists and lies just across the water from the Turkish coastal town of Kas. Tension has been growing between Athens and Ankara for months since the Greeks refused to extradite eight Turkish soldiers whom Ankara claims were involved in the country’s attempted coup in 2016.

Tensions escalated further last month when two Greek soldiers were imprisoned by the Turks after straying over the border.