Greece stresses Turk ship concern

Greece has raised concerns with Turkey for a second time about the activities of a Turkish marine research ship near Greek territorial waters. Just days after the Piri Reis was spotted between Rhodes and Kastelorizo, prompting an official complaint from the Foreign Ministry to Ankara, Alternate Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas expressed Greece’s worries about the vessel’s activities to Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu late on Friday. The two diplomats met at the sidelines of an Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) meeting in Kazakhstan. Droutsas used the opportunity to raise concerns about the Piri Reis’ movements. The ship, which is being monitored by the Greek coast guard and was last seen near Kastelorizo, is not in Greek territorial waters but is sailing above what Greece considers to be its continental shelf, where Athens claims rights to potential undersea mineral and fossil fuel deposits. Turkey says that the aim of the expedition is to survey seismic activity in the Mediterranean and that a 15-person team comprising Turkish and Canadian scientists will conduct research on the ship until August 20. «As a result of the studies of the scientists, we will get more information about the probable effects of ground motion that may occur in the Mediterranean basin, where millions of people have their holiday every year,» Dogan Yasar, deputy chairman of Dokuz Eylul University Institute of Marine Sciences and Technology was quoted as saying by the Hurriyet Daily News.