ATHENS, Jan 30 (Reuters) – Greece’s new nationalist defense minister prompted Greece’s perennial rival Turkey to scramble jets on Friday, just days after he took office, by flying over uninhabited islets off the Turkish coast that nearly triggered a war in 1996.
Turkish fighter jets entered Greek airspace and were intercepted by Greek jets as Defense Minister Panos Kammenos and military chiefs flew by helicopter to the islet of Imia to drop wreaths in memory of three Greek officers killed nearby in a helicopter crash 19 years ago, the Greek Defense Ministry said.
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Greece irritated some of its EU partners this week by seeming ambiguous about extending sanctions against Russia over Ukraine, before eventually smoothing ruffled feathers. (Reporting by George Georgiopoulos,; additional reporting by Tulay Karadeniz in Ankara, writing by James Mackenzie; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
