The following is a news item of CNN of 20 October 2000, by Associated Press.

"Turkish jets try to prevent Greek planes from joining Cyprus war games

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) -- Turkish warplanes attempted to block two Greek fighter bombers from joining Cypriot war games Thursday, according to Defense Ministry sources.

The incident was the latest in an escalating dispute between Greece and Turkey.

The Turkish jet fighters tried to intercept two Greek Corsair planes as they flew from Greece to Cyprus early Thursday but were themselves intercepted by other Greek fighters, said the sources on condition of anonymity.

The Greek planes bombed targets in Cyprus as part of the military exercise and then flew back to their base in Greece, the sources said. They added that the Greek jets will continue participating in the exercise until it ends Saturday.

In Greece, government spokesman Dimitris Reppas confirmed the incident, saying it took place between the eastern Aegean island of Rhodes and Cyprus. "We have a repetition of old phenomena," Reppas said.

Turkey's Foreign Ministry said it had received no information about the incident, and Turkey's military would not confirm or deny it. Turkey's Anatolia news agency reported on the Cyprus maneuvers without any reference to Turkish plane interference.

The incident was the latest in a series of disputes between the two neighboring allies involving the participation of Greek warplanes in a major NATO exercise in the Aegean. The Cyprus war games are not connected to the NATO maneuvers.

The disputes broke out after NATO ordered three Greek A-7 attack planes to abort part of the exercise to avoid confrontation with Turkish jet fighters. The abort order came as Turkish jets prepared an apparently unauthorized interception during the Destined Glory military exercise.

Greece threatened to pull its forces out of the exercise but decided to continue participation following assurances by NATO's supreme commander in Europe, Gen. Joseph W. Ralston.

The problems have complicated a yearlong effort to improve relations between traditional rivals Greece and Turkey, which have nearly come to war three times in the past 26 years over Aegean Sea disputes and the divided island of Cyprus.

The east Mediterranean island has been split into a Greek Cypriot-controlled south and a Turkish-occupied north since 1974, when Turkey invaded in the wake of an abortive coup by supporters of union with Greece. A breakaway Turkish Cypriot state in the north is only recognized by Turkey, which maintains 35,000 troops there.

Greek Defense Minister Akis Tsochatzopoulos will fly to Cyprus on Friday to watch the final stages of the Cypriot exercise. Two years ago, the plane in which Tsochatzopoulos was flying to Cyprus for that year's exercise was buzzed by Turkish warplanes, resulting in a sharp drop in the already tense Greco-Turkish relations."