EU Commission spokesperson Amadeu Altafaj Tardio said in a statement on Wednesday that the helicopter of the European Union's border-monitoring agency Frontex “never violated Turkish airspace” and that Frontex aircraft “had never received threats from Turkish authorities.”
The statement was a response to Greek accusations earlier this week that the Frontex helicopter in the Aegean received warning signals via Turkish radar during the Greek-initiated operation “Poseidon 2009” in the eastern Mediterranean to fight against irregular immigration. Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis claimed that the Turkish interference came when the pilot of the Frontex helicopter was monitoring a boat carrying irregular migrants and approaching the Greek island of Farmakonisi, while a Turkish patrol boat was sighted in the area, in Greek territorial waters.
The EU statement clarified that “the orders given to aircraft crew ensure that all patrols are carried out exclusively within Greek airspace” with the sole aim of curbing irregular immigration. It said the Turkish radar controller “had tried to establish contact with the [Frontex] helicopter pilot and had been unable to do so due to the use of different radar frequencies.” The EU Commission spokesperson also added that the EU is still continuing negotiations with Turkey over a joint framework in operational cooperation in border management and that it had informed Turkish officials about operation Poseidon 2009.
