PROVOCATION - Turkish Coastguard Harasses Greek Fishermen off of Imia

The Turkish Hurriyet Daily News said on Monday that the Turkish Coastguard prevented Greek fishermen from casting their nets inside what they called "Turkish territorial waters" in the eastern Aegean on Sunday. According to the obviously provocative report, Greek fishermen were preparing to cast their nets off of the Imia islets, facing mainland Turkey, when a Turkish coastguard boat intervened by approaching and forced them away.

The fishing boats later tried to cast their nets again in front of the island, but were again prevented by the Turkish coastguard. The fishermen later retreated back to what the paper describes as "Greek territorial waters".

The Imia islets are a pair of two small uninhabited rocks in the Aegean Sea, situated between the Greek Dodecanese island chain and the southwestern mainland coast of Turkey. Greece and Turkey almost went to war over the islets in 1996. In fact, the Imia dispute is part of the larger Aegean dispute, which also comprises disputes over the continental shelf, the territorial waters, the air space, the Flight Information Regions (FIR) and the demilitarization of the Aegean islands.

Here is the report from Hurriyet - http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkish-coastguard-halts-greek-fishermen-in-turkish-territorial-waters-.aspx?pageID=238&nid=75333

Sources: Hurriyet Daily News, enikos, Wikipedia