Evangelos Apostolakis

US Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt visited the Hellenic Air Force's 110 Combat Wing air base in Larissa, central Greece Thursday and met with US personnel ahead of the temporary deployment there of American MQ-9 drones.

Hellenic Armed Forces General Staff (GEETHA) Chief Admiral Evangelos Apostolakis and his Turkish counterpart Hulusi Akar discussed ways of deescalating tension in the Aegean to avoid the possibility of an accident, in talks held on the sidelines of recent military conferences in Europe.

Hellenic Armed Forces General Staff (GEETHA) Chief Admiral Evangelos Apostolakis called for the release of the two Greek servicemen who are being held in a Turkish prison since early March, during a meeting with Turkish counterpart Hulusi Akar, on the sidelines of a NATO Military Committee meeting in Brussels on Wednesday.

Amid heightened tension in the Aegean, senior United States armed forces officials are expected to visit Greece in the coming days, in a move which analysts say highlights the country's growing geostrategic significance in the eyes of Washington policymakers.

In a visit to the Aegean island of Kastellorizo on Tuesday, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras sent a message of "cooperation... but also determination" to Turkey. But provocations continued with Turkish jets harassing the Chinook helicopter carrying Tsipras and armed forces chief Evangelos Apostolakis. 

Two Turkish fighter aircraft reportedly harassed the Chinook helicopter carrying Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and the Greek Armed Forces Chief Admiral Evangelos Apostolakis as they were flying from the islet of Ro to Rhodes on Tuesday afternoon.

The fast-tracking of procedures to implement a 1-billion-euro defense program was agreed on Monday during a meeting of the Parliament's Arms Committee. The decision was taken after a confidential briefing of the committee regarding the immediate needs of the country's land, naval and air forces, Ekathimerini reported.

Turkey's stance regarding the fate of the two Greek soldiers who were arrested last week after straying into Turkey and a war of words that erupted with President Prokopis Pavlopoulos is seen in Greece as indicative of Ankara's intention to raise the stakes with Athens.

The chief of the Hellenic National Defense General Staff (GEETHA), Admiral Evangelos Apostolakis, received US Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt in his Athens office on Wednesday.

Their meeting focused on developments in the broader region, as well as on the continued detention of two Greek soldiers by Turkish authorities and Greek-American ties, according to an official announcement,

The two Greek soldiers who were detained after accidentally crossing the Turkish border in bad weather on Thursday will appear before a court on Monday on charges of illegally entering a prohibited military zone, but not for espionage, as initial media reports had suggested.