STRASBOURG - National Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul said on Monday that accusations of Greece regarding the air space violations on the Aegean Sea, were not right, stating that flight plans given to NATO openly showed that allegations of Athens were invalid.
After delivering a speech at the European Security and Defense Assembly in Strasbourg, Gonul replied to questions of reporters.
Upon a question regarding Greece's allegations about violation of its airspace, Gonul said that this issue could be discussed with Greek defense minister during meetings of NATO which would be held in Brussels next week.
Gonul said that this issue stemmed from Greece's considering flight area which was 6 miles over its territorial waters as 10 miles.
Gonul said the second disagreement issued from the islets on the Aegean Sea whose status had not been determined. He said allegations pertaining to flight violations were brought onto the agenda as Athens considered those islets as if its own territory.
Recalling that Turkey briefed NATO about its flights on the Aegean, Gonul said those registrations had openly proved that Turkey did not make violation.
Gonul said, ''if Turkey performs around 6 thousand flights per year, it performs only 3 percent of this on the Aegean. Greece performs 80 percent of its total flights on the Aegean.''
When asked whether or not Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) delayed the EU reform package of the government, Gonul said TSK could have security concerns, recalling that those concerns were taken up within the body of the National Security Council (NSC).
Gonul said, ''Turkey's security issue is not like the security problem of others. Security is important for a country which lost its 30 thousand people because of terrorism.''
Gonul is expected to leave for Turkey on June 4.
(EÖ-AY) 02.06.2003