Border guards

Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya has expressed Ankara's growing discontent over recent violations of Turkish territorial waters by the Greek Coast Guard during its operations targeting migrant boats.

High-ranking Hellenic Coast Guard officers have been appearing before the Greek Ombudsman since Monday over the fatal shipwreck off southern Greece in June 2023. 

The process is expected to be completed on September 20, with the examination of the coast guard head himself, Vice Admiral Georgios Alexandrakis.

Some 42 migrants were rescued 27 miles southwest of Crete island in the early hours of Thursday, while there is an ongoing search and rescue operation for three more.

At some point on Wednesday night, the migrants' boat sent a distress call to the Italian authorities, who then informed Greece. 

Romania's Schengen accession on March 31 brings about notable changes at Bucharest's Henri Coanda International Airport as Austrian officers will collaborate with Romanian counterparts in passport and document scrutiny. The collaboration aims to enhance border security and streamline identity verification processes for travelers entering the Schengen zone.

Τhe Hellenic Coast Guard rescued 26 migrants and arrested five of them (aged 23, 22, 23, 21 and 23) in the sea region south of Agrilia on the eastern Aegean island of Lesvos on Monday morning.

According to the Coast Guard, one of its vessels conducting a surveillance patrol noticed an inflatable dinghy with passengers within Turkish territorial waters.

The Shipping Ministry has recently entered into three contracts with Viking Norsafe Life-Saving Equipment Hellas. These contracts involve the acquisition of a total of 31 patrol boats, including 21 conventional boats and 10 inflatable boats, along with three high-speed boats for the Port Authority. The total value of these contracts amounts to 14,372,700 euros.

A new video has been released documenting the incident on January 5 when a Turkish patrol boat harassed a Hellenic Coast Guard vessel and attempted to ram it near the eastern Aegean island of Farmakonisi.

A Coast Guard patrol boat was harassed by a Turkish offshore vessel on Thursday morning off the Dodecanese island of Farmakonisi, the Coast Guard has said.

In a statement, the Coast Guard said its vessel was attempting to identify three Turkish fishing vessels that were fishing within Greek territorial waters, southeast of Farmakonisi.

The first results of the Hellenic Coast Guard's ongoing operation to secure Greek maritime borders in the eastern Aegean - compiled by the National Integrated Maritime Surveillance System and seen by Kathimerini - show that from March 1 to 11 a total of 43 boats carrying 1,527 illegal migrants were intercepted by coast guard vessels, aided by navy and land forces.

Greek Coast Guard boats were on Thursday seeking a smuggling boat believed to be carrying dozens of migrants off the coast of Pylos, in southern Greece. 

Around 60 migrants are believed to be in the boat, according to local reports. 

The search operation involves three Coast Guard vessels and an aircraft of Frontex, the European Union's border monitoring agency.