Greek Defence Minister Panos Kammenos on Wednesday flew over the eastern Aegean Kardak (Imia) islets, to leave a wreath in the Aegean Sea in memory of three Greek soldiers who died in a helicopter accident during the 1996 crisis between Turkey and Greece over sovereignty of the islets.
The Defence Minister was accompanied by the Chief of the Hellenic Airforce Lieutenant General Christos Christodoulou. The Greek Minister and the rest of the entourage arrived at the site with a navy helicopter.
The move prompted a reaction from Ankara as Turkish F16 fighter jets flew over the uninhabited rocky formations as well as the small islet of Kalolimnos, Greek media reported.
Kammenos’ visit came three days after Turkish Chief of General Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar, accompanied by the commanders of Turkey’s land, naval and air forces sailed on a missile gunboat around the islets of Kardak.
A row over their sovereignty islets flared in January 1996, when the two countries sent marines to two neighbouring islands in a sign of an imminent armed confrontation.
The uninhabited rocky specks, Imia in Greek and Kardak in Turkish, are a historic flare point in a long-running demarcation dispute.
