Coast guard fires warning shots at Turkish fishing boat – Greek officials
The Greek authorities confirmed on Wednesday that one of their coast guard ships fired warning shots at a Turkish fishing boat they say had refused to leave Greek waters near the island of Chios.
According to the Greek Shipping Ministry, the Turkish boat had attempted to ram a patrol vessel, and did not leave Athens’ territorial waters when requested to do so. The coast guard then proceeded to fire warning shots at the Turkish craft.
The incident reportedly took place near the island of Chios, which lies close to the Turkish mainland, in the eastern Aegean Sea.
Officials in Turkey said one person was injured in the affray. Greek diplomats were duly summoned by Turkey’s Foreign Ministry to explain the incident.
The Foreign Ministry formally protested what it described as the “disproportionate use of force,” according to Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency, and demanded an end to “interventions and harassments” against Turkish fishing boats in the Aegean.
Greece and Turkey have been embroiled in a series of territorial disagreements for years, more recently relating to hydrocarbon reserves in the eastern Mediterranean. Ankara sent the seismic exploration vessel Oruc Reis to survey waters claimed by Greece and Cyprus, stoking tensions and drawing fierce condemnation from the EU. Ankara and Athens subsequently agreed to restart diplomatic efforts.
