ISTANBUL
\nGreek Coast Guard ships opened fire on a cargo vessel sailing in international waters in the Aegean Sea, the Turkish Coast Guard said, escalating tensions between the regional rivals that have mounted in recent weeks.
\nThere were no casualties in the shooting 11 nautical miles (13 miles) southwest of the Turkish island of Bozcaada on Saturday, the Turkish statement said. It added that after \u201charassment fire\u201d from two Greek Coast Guard vessels, two Turkish Coast Guard ships went to the area and the Greek boats left.
\nCalls to the Greek Embassy in Ankara went unanswered Sunday, and it wasn\u2019t clear why the gunfire occurred.
\nThe neighboring countries have been embroiled in disputes for decades and frictions have ratcheted up in recent weeks, with both sides alleging airspace violations. Greek officials have raised concerns about another outbreak of conflict in Europe, following Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine.
\nTurkey says Greece is breaking international agreements by keeping a military presence on islands close to Turkey\u2019s Aegean coastline. It also has accused Greek air defenses of locking on to Turkish fighter jets during NATO exercises over the eastern Mediterranean.
\nGreece says it needs to defend its eastern islands \u2014 including tourist hotspots Rhodes and Kos, which are much closer to Turkey than to the Greek mainland \u2014 against its larger and militarily stronger neighbor.
\nVideo footage from Saturday purportedly shows a Greek Coast Guard ship alongside the Comoros-flagged ship Anatolian as the sound of about a dozen gunshots are heard. A crew member speaks in Turkish, saying they are being attacked by the Greek Coast Guard.
\nThe video, which was released by the Turkish Coast Guard and seems to have been filmed on a cellphone, shows what appears to be a bullet hole in a window and in the ceiling of the cargo ship\u2019s bridge.
\nThe Turkish statement said the gunfire was \u201cin disregard of the rules of international law.\u201d The 18 crew of the Anatolian consisted of six Egyptians, four Somalis, five Azerbaijanis and three Turks.
\nA Turkish prosecutor ordered an investigation. The country also has protested to Greek authorities, with Ankara demanding a swift investigation and explanation.
\nThe Anatolian was anchored Sunday in the Dardanelles Strait off the Turkish coast, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.
\nThis week, the Greek government wrote letters to NATO, the European Union and the United Nations, asking them to formally condemn increasingly aggressive talk by Turkish officials and suggesting that tensions could escalate into open conflict.
\nGreek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said the behavior of Turkey \u2014 also a NATO member \u2014 risked \u201ca situation similar to that currently unfolding in some other part of our continent,\u201d referring to the war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ISTANBUL Greek Coast Guard ships opened fire on a cargo vessel sailing in international waters in the Aegean Sea, the Turkish Coast Guard said, escalating tensions between the regional rivals that have mounted in recent weeks. There were no casualties in the shooting 11 nautical miles (13 miles) southwest of the Turkish island of Bozcaada […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":282892,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-282874","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n