Turkey issues new Navtexes for northern, eastern Aegean

Turkey issued new navigational telexes reserving parts of the northern and eastern Aegean for military exercises over the next couple of weeks, in a move seen as restoking tension between Athens and Ankara following a brief lull.

One of the two Navtexes issued on Thursday reserves an area east of Mount Athos in the Halkidiki peninsula, a part of the northern Aegean that is entirely under Greek jurisdiction. That telex came from the Izmir station of Turkey's Office of Navigation, Hydrography and Oceanography.

Another, issued by the Antalya station, seeks to reserve an area between the islands of Rhodes and Kastellorizo for naval exercises, but also for search and rescue.