BEIRUT, LEBANON (12:15 P.M.) – Two ships collided, one Greek and one Turkish, with each other off the Greek island of Imia in the southeastern part of the Aegean Sea last Wednesday, the Greek Reporter reported.
According to Greek military sources, cited by the Greek Reporter, the incident included two Coast Guard vessels and occurred in Greek territorial waters, indicating that the Greek boat was damaged.
For its part, the Turkish Coast Guard accused two Greek ships of violating Turkish territorial waters.
The Turkish statement said: “During the preventive maneuvers carried out by four Turkish coast guard boats, two Greek personnel who violated the territorial waters were removed,” noting that “friction occurred between two coast guard boats during the incident.”
Greece described the collision as “harassment” and said its ship was performing regular regular service in the Mediterranean.
This latest incident in the Aegean Sea comes at the same time that Greece and Turkey are involved in a diplomatic spat over the latter’s exploration activities in the eastern Mediterranean.
