Athens News Agency: News in English, 05-05-05

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Foreign ministry on Turkish airspace violations, policy on Greek-Turkish relations

[01] Foreign ministry on Turkish airspace violations, policy on Greek-Turkish relations

Commenting on the large-scale violations and infringements of Greek airspace by Turkish aircraft the previous day, Koumoutsakos said there was no change in the framework of policy on Greek-Turkish relations.

He noted, however, that the situation created on Wednesday was highly provocative and that an improvement in climate that was not reflected in a change in military behaviour was inconceivable. Such incidents do not help establish a good climate and good neighbourly relations, which is the main element that clouds Turkey's course toward EU accession according to the latest document EU-Turkey Council's report, he said.

Asked whether Greece's political support for Turkey's accession since 1999 had had results in any area of Turkish policy toward Greece, Koumoutsakos said that it had improved the climate in bilateral relations and promoted cooperation in so-called "low-policy" issues.

He also stressed, however, that Greece's policy was not that of a "blank cheque" but one that would require effort and determination in a developing time framework.

Sixty Turkish warplanes carried out 31 infringements of air traffic regulations in the Athens Flight Information Region (FIR) on Wednesday, which evolved into 16 violations of national air space in the northern, central and southern Aegean.

According to National Defence General Staff sources, it was the biggest number of Turkish warplanes to enter the Aegean in the past two years without submitting flight plans.

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