Greece downed Turkish fighter aircraft in 1996 incident

A Turkish airforce F-16 was lost over the Aegean Sea during a training mission in October 1996 in what Ankara said was international airspace north of the Greek island of Samos, close to Turkish mainland.

One of the pilots managed to eject after the plane was hit by a missile but his co-pilot, Captain Nail Erdogan, was killed.

The two NATO members have long been at loggerheads over the limits of their respective airspace and repeatedly accuse each other of violations.

Greece claims a 10-mile (16-kilometer) airspace limit around its long coastline but Turkey only recognizes six miles, arguing that under international rules Greece’s airspace should be the same as its territorial waters.

In 1996 the two neigbors were also at the brink of war after a dispute over a barren Aegean islet. Tensions dropped after US mediation.