BY ERDAL SAFAK
SABAH- This is a war game. A deadly war game in peacetime! I'm talking about the dogfight between the Turkish and Greek jets. One of these dogfights caused fear on both sides of the Aegean. The Turkish and Greek jets crashed. Both pilots managed to eject before the crash. The Turkish pilot, Halil Ibrahim Ozdemir, survived. There was no information about the Greek pilot as I was writing this column. I hope he'll survive.
On Oct. 8, 1996, Turkish pilot Nail Erdogan died during a dogfight over the Aegean when tension between Athens and Ankara was high, and the fact that he fell from a Greek missile came out years later. This was reported by a Greek periodical. The pilot's family brought the incident to the European Court of human Rights. The court agreed to handle the case.
This war game sometimes brings the two countries to the brink of a conflict. On Nov. 18, 2004, a Greek warplane locked its radar on a Turkish jet and the jet opened fire, because locking radar for more than five minutes is considered a hostile act. Of course this was followed by mutual harsh declarations.
Both the military and politicians of both countries intervened right after the latest incident. Chief of General Staff Gen. Hilmi Ozkok immediately called his Greek counterpart. And Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul called his Greek counterpart Dora Bakoyannis, who was scheduled to go to Paris after her stay in Helsinki, but now is returning to Athens. This shows that the incident will stay on the agenda for several days.
Could this dangerous war game not be prevented? According to the military: `No.' Because dogfights are an exercise for war pilots. Retired Gen. Yasar Mujdeci said: `Planes from both sides have fallen during the air maneuvers called dogfights. Dogfights are necessary for gauging the combat capabilityies of both sides.' Fine, but Gul and Bakoyannis have explained that they would establish a `red line' between Eskisehir and Larissa to put an end to these dogfights. Based on Mujdeci's words, we would have no hope. Former Greek Defense Minister Spilyos Spilyotopolos echoed Mujdeci: `Nothing will change even if a red line is established.' I hope the incident won't cast a shadow over the visit by Bakoyannis to Turkey in the coming days.