Turkey says Israeli warplanes didn’t harass its seismic research ship

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Turkish General Staff has denied news reports that a Turkish seismic research ship exploring gas near Cyprus was harassed by two low-flying Israeli warplanes and a helicopter on Thursday, September 29 night, according to Today’s Zaman.

A written statement posted on the General Staff's website on Friday said that the reports are untrue.

Turkish Vatan daily published a story on Friday referring to a story by the Greek Cypriot daily Phileleftheros, which argued that Israel boosted its presence in the Eastern Mediterranean as of Thursday night. The report said the two F-15 jets that took off from Tel Aviv flew through the Greek Cypriot and the Turkish Cypriot airspaces. The jets reportedly ignored warnings from the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC) officials and got so close to Turkey's Mediterranean coasts that they could be even seen from Mersin's beaches, the report said. Turkey then reportedly sent two F-16 jets to the area to track the Israeli jets, which then returned to Israel.

An Israeli military helicopter also flew over the Turkish research ship, Piri Reis, on Thursday night, according to the daily, as it was in the Aphrodite gas field, off Cyprus' southern coast and adjacent to the larger Leviathan field. The helicopter flew low over the ship for a long time, the report said.