Turkey’s government on Monday denied that Turkish fighter jets harassed aircraft carrying the defense ministers of Greece, the Netherlands and France to Cyprus for an informal European Union meeting.
A statement from the Turkish Presidency said that “claims in certain news media and social media accounts” about such harassment Sunday and about Turkish warplanes violating Greek airspace were “completely false.”
The statement said that four of the six aircraft heading from Greece to Cyprus “breached the airspace” of Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus, and as a result two Turkish F-16 fighters took off from the ethnically divided island’s north “as a precaution.”
It said the F-16s did not enter Cypriot airspace and “there was no harassment” of the four aircraft.
“We strongly advise that no credibility should be given to the claims, which are being made with the intention of manipulating international public opinion and creating provocations,” the statement concluded.
