“Ankara is obliged to cease its violations of international and its actions which do not contribute to developing relations between the two countries. These are actions that undermine regional security and stability,” the Greek foreign ministry said in a statement after the Turkish Coast Guard ship “UMUT” attempted to ram in its centre the Greek Coast Guard ship “Gavdos” east of the Greek rock islets of Imia last night.
The general secretary of the Greek foreign ministry, Ambassador Dimitrios Paraskevopoulos has filed a strongly worded demarche with his Turkish counterpart over the incident.
At the same time, Turkish Ambassador to Athens Halit Cevik was called in to the Greek foreign ministry by Political Affairs Director Theodoros Georgakelos, where similar representations were made.
The message conveyed by Athens was that incidents, such as that on Monday night, which endanger human lives, are the result of the heightened and escalating, provocative behavior that Ankara has exhibited over the last days.
