Government spokesperson Pavlos Marinakis flatly dismissed a Turkish coast guard announcement, made a day earlier, over what’s now being billed as the “Zourafa incident”, saying “the islet of Zourafa is clearly within Greek territorial waters.”
The incident occurred on Thursday, July 11, when a Greek Coast Guard patrol vessel approached a Turkish fishing boat in Greek territorial waters near the tiny islet of Zourafa, due east but within six nautical miles of the large northeast Aegean island of Samothrace.
Marinakis explained that the coast guard vessel approached the boat to inspect it, in accordance with international protocol, as it was in Greek territorial waters. A collision between the two boats followed.
A previous statement by the coast guard explains that when the Greek craft approached the Turkish fishing boat the latter’s pilot made a sudden change of course, resulting in the contact between the two vessels. The Turkish fishing boat departed and both vessels were able to leave, unassisted.
The incident was subsequently elevated to the diplomatic level because Athens and Ankara presented two different versions of the event.
An announcement by Turkey’s coast guard claimed the fishing boat was in Turkish waters, north of Gökçeada, known for millennia as Imbros, which is one of two major islands in the Aegean belonging to Turkey.
