Imia/Kardak

The US State Department has called on Greece and Turkey to use their regular diplomatic channels to resolve any disputes in the Aegean following an incident on Monday night, when a Turkish coast guard vessel rammed a Greek patrol boat off the Imia islets.

The Greek Foreign Ministry has lodged a demarche to protest against the latest incident in the Aegean where a Turkish coast guard vessel rammed a Greek patrol boat off the Imia islets in the Aegean.

The European Union has issued a fresh warning to Turkey following growing tension in the Aegean Sea and Ankara's threats to Cyprus and Greece.

Greek government spokesman Dimitris Tzanakopoulos has accused Turkey of not contributing to stability in the region in the wake of further tension between Athens and Ankara, Ekathimerini reported.

A Turkish patrol boat reportedly rammed a Greek coast guard vessel that was anchored off the island of Imia in the Aegean at around midnight on Monday.

The incident did not result in any no injuries but only minor damage to the stern of the Greek vessel, yet it serves to illustrate the heightened tension in the area where Greece and Turkey came on the brink of war 22 years ago.

The Foreign Ministry has condemned the violent threats issued this week by a senior adviser to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan against Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, his ministers and other Greek officials, as "unspeakable" and "alien to European political culture."

In a further escalation of tensions in the Aegean, a chief advisor to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has issued a direct threat to Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, his ministers and other Greek officials not to set foot on the islets of Imia whose sovereignty Ankara disputes. 

US Ambassador to Athens Geoffrey Pyatt expresses his concern over the possibility of an "accident" happening between Greece and Turkey in the Aegean.

In an interview with Skai TV that will be broadcast at half past midnight, the American envoy refers to coast guard maneuvers in the eastern Aegean, where vessels from the two countries often come in very close proximity of each other.

The Hellenic Navy General Staff has dismissed Turkish media reports that Turkey's coast guard on Sunday prevented Defense Minister Panos Kammenos from throwing a wreath into the sea off the Imia islets in the eastern Aegean where a Greek military helicopter crashed in 1996, killing three servicemen, during a crisis that brought Greece and Turkey to the brink of war.

Defense Minister Panos Kammenos threw a wreath into the sea off the uninhabited islets of Imia in the eastern Aegean on the anniversary of a crisis that brought Greece and Turkey to the brink of war in 1996 and cost the lives of three Hellenic Navy servicemen.