Greece earlier this week accused the Turkish army of endangering security in the region, highlighting an incident in which two Turkish F-16's reportedly flew dangerously close to an Istanbul-bound Olympic Airways plane with 70 passengers on board.

"Our desire is to turn the Aegean into a sea of peace. For this purpose, everyone needs to act carefully. There is no need to unnecessarily escalate incidents," Gul told reporters here.

"What we need to do is to show Turkish-Greek cooperation to the entire world... because our interest lies in living in peace and in mutual respect in this area," he added.

NATO allies Greece and Turkey have long been at loggerheads over air control and territorial rights in the Aegean, frequently accusing each other of violations.

Dogfights between Greek and Turkish fighter planes are a frequent occurrence.

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

According to the Greek embassy in Ankara, Turkish air violations have increased from some 447 in 2000 to 3,241 last year.

This year, Turkey violated Greek airspace 1,939 times between January and May 16, the embassy added.

But Turkish officials say there is nothing extraordinary in the situation over the Aegean and Greece does not need to raise the dispute on the international arena.

Turkish planes flying over the Aegean hand over flight plans to NATO prior to take-off and have posted their electronic in-flight identification since October 2001, but Greece does not reciprocate such measures, the officials add.

"We have no intention of a confrontation or conflict in the Aegean...We want to resolve the dispute peacefully through dialogue," one government source said on condition of anonymity.

Greece has announced its intention to formally complain to the European Union, NATO and the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) over the latest incident.

The Turkish armed forces have accused Athens of trying to paint Turkey in a negative light with the European Union and force it to make territorial concessions to Greece.

Turkey is now seeking to counter the Greek allegations, a Turkish source said.

Turkey is under pressure to resolve territorial disputes with its neighbors as a price for joining the European Union.

Brussels has called on Greece and Turkey to take their disputes to the International Court of Justice if they fail to resolve them by 2004 when EU leaders will decide whether to open accession negotiations with Ankara.

But the two neighbours disagree strongly over the nature of the Aegean problems.

Greece claims the only issue to be dealt with is that of continental shelf rights, but Turkey says there are several problems ranging from the boundaries of territorial waters to the status of islands whose sovereignty remains unclear.

Diplomats from both countries have been engaged in closed-door talks since last year to try to resolve the dispute, but with no concrete result to date.

WAR.WIRE