Greece offers to assist search for Turkish pilots’ remains in Aegean Sea

Yorgo KİRBAKİ HÜRRİYET / ATHENS

Col. Nail Erdoğan died after a fighter jet crashed near Chios Island back on Oct. 8, 1996.

Greece has announced that it is ready to provide assistance for finding the remains of Turkish pilot Col. Nail Erdoğan, who died after a fighter jet crashed near Chios Island back in 1996.

Greek Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Konstandinos Kutras said April 15 that Athens had been informed about searches conducted by Turkish officials in international waters off the island of Chios.

He added that Greece was ready to contribute to the search and salvage efforts for the lost jet if it was needed.

The accident took place during years of particularly high tension between Turkey and Greece, which materialized in “dogfights” between the Air Forces of the two countries over the Aegean Sea.

Amid that tension, a Turkish F-16 fighter jet that took off from a military base in the northwestern Balıkesir province for a training flight crashed on Oct. 8, 1996.

One of the two pilots, Lieutenant Col. Osman Cicekli, survived the crash despite sustaining serious injuries, but the body of Nail Erdoğan is still missing.