Defensepoint.com demonstrated via the free FlightRadar 24 app (monitors all airline flights with transponders turned on) that Turkey is using civilian flights to transport war material and personnel to Libya. In fact, recent reports show an unusual air traffic from Constantinople to Libya, flying over the Greek airspace and inside the Athens FIR.
Turkey is a member state of Eurocontrol and for this reason Greece does not have to authorize flights on its airspace, to or from Turkey.
Furthermore, it is not necessary to obtain a flyby permit over Turkey (e.g. FIR Istanbul or FIR Ankara) to travel to destinations such as Tehran, Armenia (Yerevan) or Georgia (Tbilisi). The same obviously applies to Turkish airlines flying to Greek destinations or crossing the Athens FIR.
However, it should be noted that specific directives (restrictions) have been issued by both the US FAA and the European EASA regarding Libya.
These warn airlines not to use Libyan airspace and, of course, not to operate to and from airports in that country as it is in a state of war.
Greece, like any Eurocontrol member country, could therefore ban any flight that crosses its airspace (FIR: Flight Information Region) to an airport in Libya for national security reasons. It also reserves the right to prohibit overflight also on flights that have other destinations but which have alternative flight plans for Libya.
For example, if an airline submits a flight plan from Kiev to Tunisia with a stopover or alternate in Tripoli, Libya or Misrata (IATA-encoded MRA, ICAO-encoded HLMS), Greece has the power not to authorize it. .
Greece could also issue a NOTAM to close its air border with Libya.
The free FlightRadar 24 app shows the Turkish air route that crosses Greece, Italy and Malta and then possibly goes to Libya. Why doesn't Italy also track these routes and apply the restrictions of the FAA and EASA? Perhaps for this reason the prime minister, Giuseppe Conte had proposed a “no fly zone ”, without receiving convincing answers from the European partners and the rejection by Moscow.
In order not to authorize a flight to pass through a certain airspace, a government mandate is not required, or a parliamentary passage because the air traffic controllers can decide independently ... the NOTAM to be issued (if issued ...) will be drawn up by the CAA (Aviation Authority civil) in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The international diplomatic situation
Meanwhile, Germany and Italy are working for a diplomatic solution: Merkel telephones the Turkish leader Erdogan, Foreign Minister Di Maio talks to his Egyptian counterpart, the Arab League is meeting today and Tunisia is tightening border controls with Libya. Russia is against the "no fly zone" requested by Rome. To the sound of coordinated raids with the advisers and fighters of the Arab Emirates, and the military support of Egypt, Haftar continues to hammer the government positions in Tripoli. Haftar's National Liberation Army points straight to the heart of the capital, to the UN and EU-recognized government of Al Serraj, forced in turn to accept Erdogan's help. Against the no-fly zone Russian Foreign Minister Serghei Lavrov expressed himself at the end of the talks with his Iranian counterpart: "The idea of establishing a no-fly zone over Libya generates bad memories, it is a very bad association: NATO began bombing Libya after the UN Security Council had made exactly that decision, declare a no-fly zone».
The Air Force general commented on the no Fly zone on the Messaggero Vincent Camporini, former Chief of Defense and Air Force Staff: "start hostilities with the use of weapons, crossing the famous red line". The threat of a no-fly zone should actually serve to reassure the government of Al Serraj, and the Turkey that supports it. But the problem is that the situation on the ground is getting worse every day, despite the proclaimed desire for a political solution by all actors, including those who are providing military aid to the warring parties. And the fighting continues. The Al Marsa di Misurata battalion, loyal to Al Serraj, has ordered the evacuation of Al Habda, a district of Tripoli, in anticipation of the advance of Haftar's army. And the Turkish minister Cavusoglu promises to do "everything necessary to prevent Libya from dividing and sliding into chaos". No expansionist ambitions of Ankara, according to Cavusoglu, only gestures of responsibility for the "peace and security of the friendly and fraternal Libyan people", because the national interest also protects itself by protecting "your friends and allies".
Finally, preparations are underway for the European mission of 7 January in Libya. But Khalid Al Mashri, president of the Tripoli High Council of State, says he does not have "high hopes" even in the Berlin conference scheduled for next month, "much less in the international community to resolve the crisis".