Turkish corvette "ambushes" Italian ship south of Karpathos

Occupied by the expansionism syndrome and (according to Mr. Davutoglu), the psychological need to feel that the Aegean is not only a Greek sea, the Turks tried to prevent passage of an Italian ship moving in international waters south of Karpathos, in an area belonging to the Greek continental shelf!

In the evening of Saturday March 12, the Italian cargo ship “Explora” was sailing the Aegean sea bound for Cyprus and Israel as its final destination. The Italian ship was studying the way in which they will place optical fibers, connecting Italy with Israel.

The Italian shipping company had asked the Greek government for the appropriate licenses, in order to map the route on which the setting of the optical fiber is to take place, since the work will be done on the Greek continental shelf. Thus, with absolute clarity, the Italian side acknowledged that in the area southeast of Rhodes and Karpathos and southwest of Kastelorizo, the shelf belongs to Greece. Athens even issued the actual navtex, with which the necessary permission was given to the Italian side in order to map the area on which the optical fiber will be placed.

The Turkish side was informed about the upcoming activities of the “Explora”, apparently from the navtex, and decided to take action to defend its interests, although its reaction has no basis.

The Turkish corvette “Bantirma” then approached the Italian “Explore” and under the threat of violence, called upon the Italian ship’s crew to leave the area because, supposedly, it was on Turkish waters. A Turkish commercial vessel was doing no research and at the same time, was moving on international waters, thus the Turks had no right to dispatch a warship with the indirect threat of using violence. Even more so, since the “Explora” was sailing on Greek waters and the Greek continental shelf, and the Italian side had received all necessary permits from the Greek state. In the case of the shelf according to international law, Greece can exercise all its sovereign rights and enforce them if needs be.

The incident did not escalate. The Italian ship continued on its jouney while the Turks recorded their opposition to the limits of the Greek continental shelf (which, however, was recognized by a third country, aligning itself perfectly with Greek views and international law), while the Greek government chose not to send a warship to the area in order to avoid tension.

Yesterday, March 15, as spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Mr. Gregoris Delavekouras mentioned, the Greek embassy in Ankara filed a formal complaint with the Turkish Foreign Ministry about the attempted interception of the Italian ship.