Athens  - Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyianni on MOnday condemned air violations by Turkey and said relations between the two traditional foes had stagnated last year.

"The attempts to improve our relations with Ankara stagnated in 2008 and we will strive to improve this in the new year," Bakoyianni said following a meeting with Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis.

Athens claims that Turkish fighter jets have repeatedly been violating Greece's air space in recent weeks.

Tension in the Aegean between the two neighbors escalated over the weekend after Turkish jets buzzed a Greek helicopter searching for a boat with illegal immigrants before flying low over the small Greek Dodecannese island of Farmakonisi.

The Greek helicopter was responding to a communication that 15 people were in danger near the tiny island.

The two Turkish F-16s were shadowed by Greek warplanes in a game of cat and mouse that lasted for several hours on Sunday.

Greek officials said a total of 14 fighter jets from turkey crossed into Greek air space.

Bakoyianni said that Turkey's behaviour was "unacceptable" and harm efforts to improve Greek-Turkish relations.

The two NATO countries have nearly come to war three times in the past 30 years over their differences, which include air and territorial rights in the Aegean as well as the divided island of Cyprus.

Turkey insists Greek airspace extends only 10 kilometres offshore, not 16 kilometres as Greece maintains. dpa