ATHENS, Aug 5 (AFP) - Greece Thursday called on Turkey to respect the so-called Olympic truce, an Athens-sponsored attempt at a symbolic revival of an ancient Greek custom to suspend armed conflict during the Games.
"The Olympic truce must be respected by everyone," said Greek government spokesman Theodore Roussopoulos.
NATO partners and longtime rivals Greece and Turkey signed the truce last October. The two countries agreed to step up intelligence and information exchange to boost security during the 2004 Athens Olympics.
But the Greek military announced that two Turkish F-4 fighter planes on Wednesday violated Greek airspace over the island of Limnos. They were headed off by the Greek air force and "localised by anti-air missile batteries."
Greek media have over recent days reported other violations by the Turkish military.
Roussopoulos added, however, that Turkish airspace violations were down 44 percent on the same period last year. Registered violations numbered some 6,000 for 2002.
Strained relations between North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) partners Greece and Turkey have improved significantly since 1999 when the two countries helped each other after devastating earthquakes.
But they are still at loggerheads over territorial and air control rights in the Aegean which separates the two countries.