Greece protests to Turkey over shipping incident

GREECE complained to Turkey on Tuesday that a Turkish ship had collided with a Greek coastguard vessel off disputed islets in the Aegean Sea, but Turkey denied the Turkish ship was at fault.

The Greek coastguard said in a statement that the incident took place off Imia, known as Kardak in Turkish, at about midnight on Monday.

“A Turkish patrol vessel ‘made some risky manoeuvres’ striking the left side of the Greek coastguard vessel patrolling the area. The Greek vessel was damaged. There were no injuries,” the coastguard said.

“Dangerous incidents, such as this one, which put human lives in danger, are the result of the escalating and provocative behaviour shown increasingly by Turkey in recent days,” the Greek Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“Turkey must end the violations of international law and acts that do not contribute in the development of the two countries’ relations,” it said, adding that Turkey’s ambassador to Athens had been summoned.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım told his Greek counterpart Alexis Tsipras in a phone call that Greece needed to take necessary measures to decrease the tension in the Aegean Sea, a source from Mr Yıldırım’s office said.

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry denied the Turkish vessel was at fault. It said the Greek statement misled Greece’s own public and distorted the truth “as always”.

It said Ankara had in fact contacted Athens regarding the “dangerous manoeuvres” by the Greek coastguard, and informed them that Turkey “would not tolerate continuing hostile behaviour by the Greek armed forces.”

Tensions between the two countries have been on the rise since a Greek court blocked the extradition of eight Turkish soldiers Ankara accuses of involvement in a failed coup against Recep President Tayyip Erdoğan in 2016.