“The Turks are incensed with me,” Greek Defence Minister Panos Kammenos told reporters on Thursday in response to a question regarding the constant coverage by the Turkish media of his name.

Replying to whether there was an ongoing “undeclared war” between Greece and Turkey since 1974 he remarked: “When we have dead heroes falling in the line of duty while receiving training, practicing with planes and those pilots are flying protecting our sovereignty, engaging in interceptions.

These are actions that we only come across during times of war or at least similar to war conditions. We are not talking about anything different from what started in 1974 when Turkey decided to violate the National Airspace. What we do, respecting international law and respecting the defence of our national sovereignty, is to intercept anything that enters our national airspace and land last.”

“I want to congratulate the Air Force on its high level. But this comes at a cost, with people leaving their families and children”, the Minister concluded during his visit at a conference of the Hellenic Air Force at Tatoi.