From the moment it was revealed that the Greek government bowed down to the unprecedented claim of Turkey not to land on the island of Rhodes to refuel the aircraft carrying Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to Iran arguing that the island is a demilitarized zone, many hoped that the information is not accurate and things did not happen as the newspapers reported.
But, on Monday night Prime Minister’s office released a statement saying that the aircraft Embraer carrying Mr. Tsipras and Greece’s delegation to Iran did not land on Rhodes for refueling because Turkey refused to accept the flight plan submitted which provided that prime minister’s aircraft would land on a Greek island to refuel.
Greek government’s stance, though, has raised many questions since it allowed Turkey to prevent the prime minister’s aircraft from landing on Greek territory.
Moreover, the official statement mentioned that “in order to realize the trip to Iran, a new flight plan was chosen without flying over Turkey” adding that “the new flight plan could only be realized by refueling in Egypt” which raises more queries on why the aircraft could not be landed on Rhodes for refueling, since afterwards it would not fly over Turkey – the prime minister’s aircraft flew over Egypt, Cyprus, Jordan and Saudi Arabia so as to reach Iran, according to the new flight plan.