Imia/Kardak

Two islets off Turkey's Aegean coast have been put up for sale with online ads by their owners.

Asked about a potential scenario involving an escalation of Turkish aggression in the Aegean reminiscent of the Imia crisis in 1996, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo indicated that the US would "protect...basic ideas of sovereignty."

A former member of Turkey's special underwater forces team (SAT) who was deployed on Imia during the 1996 standoff that brought Greece and Turkey to the brink of war has been appointed commander of one of the most important naval bases in the eastern Mediterranean, according to reports.

The emerging crisis in the Eastern Mediterranean over Turkey's drilling activities in Cyprus' exclusive economic zone (EEZ) raise the prospect of an open Greco-Turkish conflict to a level higher than anytime since the Imia crisis.

In the latest indication of the strengthening of the US-Greece strategic military relationship, and amidst heightened threats from Turkey in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean, the arsenal of the Hellenic Army will be substantially bolstered operationally with the addition of 70 American OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopters.

Former Prime Minister Costas Simitis has warned that given the heightened tensions in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean, Ankara may try to set up a military clash as it did when he was PM in 1996.

Simitis succeeded a dying Andreas Papandreou after his resignation in mid-January and within days Turkey sent commandos to land on one of the two Imia islets that belong to Greece.

The danger of a "hot incident" with Turkey is ever-present, former Prime Minister Costas Simitis warns in an article in Greek Kathimerini.
Referring to the "Imia crisis" which brought Greece and Turkey to the brink of war a few days after he became Prime Minister in January 1996, Simitis says  that "it is not excluded that the present Turkish leadership has similar designs."

Officials in Athens are naturally worried by the fresh areas of tension that Turkey has opened up, in a quite an aggressive fashion, across the Eastern Mediterranean region.

There is no point in getting angry at our politicians every time the country is hit by a crisis. The important thing is to have a group of experienced and level-headed experts that can analyze what went wrong and hammer out a detailed plan to correct the problems and make sure they do not resurface.

Greece calling Turkey's flights over the Aegean Sea a "threat" is incompatible with alliance and good neighborly relations, said Turkey on March 15, in the latest rejoinder in the countries' Aegean dispute.