ATHENS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th August, 2020) Greek naval frigate Limnos and Turkish frigate Kemalreis (F-247) "touched" each other in the eastern Mediterranean sea on Wednesday, the Greek Armyvoice.gr news portal reported, citing several sources.
At the same time, the incident did not involve a serious collision, sources told the news portal, which specializes in military news.
The Turkish-Greek tensions escalated this week after Turkey's Oruc Reis research vessel began exploration drilling in Greek-claimed waters in the Mediterranean on Monday.
According to Armyvoice.gr, the incident happened in the disputed area of the eastern Mediterranean in close proximity to Oruc Reis. The area is heavily patrolled by both Turkish and Greek vessels.
The General Staff of the Greek Navy told the news portal that there was no collision between Limnos and Kemalreis, while a spokesperson from the General Staff of the national defense forces has refuted reports about the incident.
Meanwhile, Armyvoice.gr reported that several officials from the Defense Ministry anonymously confirmed that there indeed was an issue between two frigates, adding that both sides agreed not to spread such information to avoid escalations.
The portal also said that a similar incident had occurred recently between another Greek frigate and a Turkish military ship.
Tensions between two NATO allies increased again earlier in August, after Greece and Egypt signed a maritime deal on an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the eastern Mediterranean. Ankara then slammed the agreement as "null and void," saying that Athens and Cairo share no sea border, and claimed that the area of the EEZ was in fact located on Turkey's continental shelf. The Greece-Egypt deal prompted Turkey to resume seismic research in the eastern Mediterranean.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has said that the risk of confrontation was growing amid a high number of military vessels in the small area of the sea.
