Turkey fuels Aegean tensions
- Written by E.Tsiliopoulos
Tensions were high for three hours on Sunday, at the Imia islets as Turkish media maintain.
A few hours earlier, a Turkish opposition MP claimed that Erdogan "gave" Greece 17 Aegean islands.
For 22 days, the intensity does not seem to be abating, but on Sunday signals among armed forces were ablaze, as clainmed by Turkish media, according to ANT1, as both sides called on each the other to depart from its territorial waters.
As Turkish media claim tension began in the morning and lasted until noon, when ships of the Greek coast guard violated Turkish territorial waters six times.
Always according to the media of the neighboring country, Turkish ships chased Greek vessels for hours, in assistance of Turkish survey ship Turgut Reis. The Greek ships were passing in front of the rocks, for three hours, according to Turkish media and maintain that at times Greek and Turkish ships even collided.
As mentioned, there was a flurry of notices and warnings over the radio. Not only did the Turkish side chase the Greek ships but also the Greek coastguard, which although in Turkish territorial waters, as stated by the Turkish media, called on the Turkish ships to be removed.
Violations were stopped for about half an hour, when a commercial vessel passed through the area.
Turkish media that in the past have been all but silent of Greek-Turkish confrontations in the Aegean, have as of recent taken to overtly reporting the excalation of tensions, fuelling Turkish nationalit/revisionist rhetoric on all sides, ahead of the referendum to change the constitutuion making Mr Erdogan a veritable Sultan!
