Turkish media invent story of Turkish vessel chasing away Hellenic Navy at Imia

As the report says: “The Turkish Coast Guard prevented one Greek battleship and two Greek coast guard boats from approaching the disputed islets of Kardak on Jan. 3, Doğan News Agency has reported.

The two countries’ boats were 30 meters apart and ran parallel to each other off the coast of Bodrum’s Turgutreis neighborhood along the southern Aegean Coast, according to witnesses.

The Greek boats reportedly meant to head toward the disputed islets of Kardak during the five hours-long standoff, which began at around 10:00 a.m. local time.

The Imia islets, which the Turks call “Kardak”, are a pair of two small uninhabited rocks in the Aegean Sea, situated between the Greek island chain of the Dodecanese and the southwestern mainland coast of Turkey. Greece and Turkey nearly went to war over the islets in 1995.”

In response to the report, the Hellenic Navy noted that “A Navy ship, the “Nikiphoros” gunboat, was on patrol near in Imia, but nothing happened. Nor was there a verbal episode, nor anything else mentioned in the Turkish publication”, an officer said.