Greek MoD to Turkey: We have not shown “respect” & will not show any towards illegal actions in the Greece-Egypt EEZ

The Greek Ministry of National Defense sent a strong and clear response to the Ministry of Defense of Turkey regarding yesterday’s reports that mentioned “respect” on our part “for their maritime jurisdiction and cooperation” in light of the events in Kasos and Karpathos.

“No ‘respect’ was shown or will be shown in the future by the Greek Armed Forces towards Turkey’s illegal actions in the legally delineated Greece-Egypt zone, as the Constitution of the Hellenic Republic prescribes and mandates,” clarified sources from the Ministry of National Defense.

These reports from the Turkish Ministry of Defense to local media concerned the movements of the Italian research vessel “Ievoli Relume.”

According to these reports, Turkey claimed that “the vessel was warned not to enter Turkey’s maritime jurisdiction on July 22 and was obstructed by Turkish ships,” adding provocatively that the Italian ship “left our continental shelf.”

“As a result of the coordination that was later carried out, it was allowed to carry out activities within the declared coordinates and left our continental shelf, completing its activity under the escort of our naval forces. The activities of this vessel are closely monitored by our naval forces in the area. We would like to thank the Greek and Italian authorities for their respect for our maritime jurisdiction and their cooperation,” concluded the reports from the Turkish Ministry of Defense.

The investigations of the Italian vessel were completed on Wednesday, with the “Ievoli Relume” covering the entire distance within the Greek EEZ and returning to Heraklion for refueling. It is notable that a Turkish warship monitored it from a distance of 1.5 nautical miles in the research area, indicating that diplomatic communication channels were effective in defusing a situation that could have escalated into a serious incident between Greece and Turkey.

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