Greece responded to a Navtex notification issued by Ankara on Monday, again disputing Greek sovereignty in the sea region southeast of the island of Karpathos where a Greek air exercise was scheduled to take place, by issuing a note verbale to the Turkish side.
According to diplomatic sources, the Greek foreign affairs ministry issued a relevant verbal communication to the Turkish side, while also communicating with International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the Spanish coordinator of Navtex for the Mediterranean and Black Sea regions.
All the letters sent by the Greek side flatly rejected the Turkey’s unilateral claims and highlighted the legal correctness of Athens’ positions.
Turkey also issued another Navtex covering a sea region from Thasos, in the northern Aegean, to Kastellorizo, in the extreme southeast corner of the Aegean, raising the issue of demilitarization of all Greek islands in the eastern Aegean, on the occasion of scheduled firing exercises at sea of Ikaria, southwest of Samos for Tuesday.
At the same time, Turkey, responding to a Greek NOTAM that restricts an area between the northeast Aegean islands of Lemnos, Aghios Efstratios, Psara and Lesvos for the air force exercise from Feb. 20 to Feb. 22, issued a “counter-NOTAM” and rehashed its claim of demilitarization of the latter.
