Turkey's "Cesme" Conducts Illegal Surveys At Agios Efstratios - FM Lodges Demarche

credit - defencenet

The Turkish research vessel "Cesme" was spotted at about 16-18 miles southeast of Agios Efstratios on a mission in search of a dome of a S-70 Sea Hawk, that was lost during anti-submarine exercise of the Turkish Navy last May. To assist it in its "survey" a minesweeper from the Turkish fleet accompanied it. Ankara issued a relevant NAVTEX, but it was rejected by the Greek State, because such actions require a special permission and approval from Greek authorities, which of course was never requested on the part of Turkey. That is why the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs lodged a demarche against Ankara identifying its actions as illegal activity. The incident concerning the setback of the submarine dome is not uncommon, but this sort of activity is rare, especially at these depths. The dome is the main sensor of the sonar system HELRAS, and is estimated to be worth about 2.5 million euros.

Original Article in Greek can be found on defencenet