Regarding the telephone communication between the Greek Minister of Shipping and Insular Policy Christos Stylianidis and the Turkish Minister of the Interior Ali Yerlikaya on the occasion of the violation of the Turkish territorial waters by Greek vessels, the Ministry of the Interior of the neighbor speaks in its announcement.

During the conversation, according to the relevant announcement, quoted by SKAI’s Istanbul correspondent Manolis Kostidis, Minister Yerlikaya expressed his indignation at the violation of Turkish territorial waters by the vessels of the Hellenic Coast Guard and stressed that for the preservation of good neighborly relations it is not possible to accept such violations.

The Minister of Shipping and Insular Policy of Greece, Christos Stylianidis, describes the announcement, stated that he attaches importance to the neighborly relations between the two countries, that the incident had no political dimension, that the violations will not be repeated and that an investigation was immediately started regarding the incident for which he will inform the Turkish authorities about the developments.

It is recalled that on Friday morning, in the area of ​​Halicarnassus and specifically in the bay of Akyarlar, a vessel of the Greek Coast Guard arrived, chasing an inflatable boat which – according to information – was carrying a migrant smuggler.

As can be seen in the video, the inflatable, which was chased by the Greek coast guard boat, was abandoned and then the Greek coast guard boat hurriedly left, while the pursuit was captured on citizens’ cameras.

Following the notification of the citizens, gendarmes from land and port from sea arrived at the scene.

According to sozcu.com, officers of the Turkish Coast Guard took the boat and took it to the port of Turgutreis.

In his announcement the port of Turkey said, on Friday, the following:

“On September 20, 2024, following a report received by the 112 Emergency Center, according to which “an inflatable boat went ashore in Bodrum Akyarlar Meteor Bay and that 1 person fled into a forested area”, 2 boats were immediately dispatched of the Coast Guard (KB-35, KB-114) at the scene and the report was also forwarded to the Bodrum District Gendarmerie Administration.

The officers of the Coast Guard who immediately took action arrived at the scene of the incident and as it was established, the officers of the Hellenic Coast Guard hastily returned to their own territorial waters.

Search operations are ongoing to locate the person who fled into the forest area, who is believed to be a migrant smuggler.”