ATHENS – The secretary general of the foreign ministry, Themistoklis Demiris, filed a strong demarche to the Turkish ambassador in Athens, following an order from Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias, according to a foreign ministry’s announcement on Thursday.

The demarche was made in relation to the unprecedented number of violations of Greek airspace and overflights of Greek territory, including several residential areas, which took place in one day.

Demiris stressed that the continuing Turkish provocative and delinquent behaviour, which violates Greek sovereignty, is completely condemnable and unacceptable.

Read more: Mitsotakis: I Have Informed NATO Chief about the Turkish Provocations
Apart from the obvious fact that it is a blatant violation of international law, the secretary general added that with the unilateral responsibility of Turkey, these actions create a climate of particular tension in the relations between the two countries, which contradicts the efforts to improve this climate.

At the same time, they undermine NATO’s cohesion at a particularly critical juncture in the wider region.

The Greek side has informed the officials of the EU, NATO, UN, ICAO, as well as member states of the UN Security Council.

Neighbors Greece and Turkey have long-standing sea and air boundary disputes that intensified with moves to explore potential undersea natural gas reserves.

The disagreement has resulted in near-daily air force patrols and interception missions, mostly in disputed airspace around Greek islands that are near Turkey’s coastline.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis met in Istanbul with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last month after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine became an urgent topic among NATO allies.

But Athens maintains that Turkey has stepped up hostile air force patrols in recent weeks to include overflights of the eastern islands.