Turkish military sources speaking to Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity said the number of mock dogfights between Turkish and Greek warplanes in 2014 has sharply increased compared to 2013. A report by the Greek Ekathimerini news agency confirmed the Turkish accounts. According to the agency, in just the first month of 2014, Turkish jets violated Greek airspace 1,017 times. That is twice the total number of violations in the first six months of 2013.

Perhaps because such news has become routine, reports of mock dogfights between Greek and Turkish warplanes over the Aegean Sea are now listed in the “Daily Activities” section of the official website of Turkey’s chief of general staff. For example, on Dec. 22 the Daily Activities section reported, “Two Greek M-2000/5 warplanes that took off from Greece’s Chios island committed a border violation of two minutes. They locked their radars for three minutes on Turkish warplanes sent to intercept, and Turkish warplanes responded to this harassment in kind.” 

In Turkey, no matter how routine such reports may be militarily, the Turkish media still pay close attention to reports of mock dogfights. The same thing happened on Dec. 29. The report that Turkish warplanes successfully chased Greek planes from Turkish airspace became instant news.

What was the Greek version of the incidents? The same dogfight of Dec. 22 was reported in the “Violations” column of the official website of the Greek Military Command. According to the official Greek version, “Six Turkish aircraft committed one infringement of the Air Traffic Regulations (ICAO) and two violations of the Hellenic National Airspace. Two of the Turkish aircraft were armed. All violating aircraft were intercepted and identified, according to the relevant international rules and procedures.”