Kastellorizo

A Turkish research vessel sent by Ankara to conduct survey for energy resources south of the island of Kastellorizo was sailing outside of Greece's territorial waters, the Hellenic Navy General Staff (HNGS) said on Wednesday evening.

The ship is sailing northeast at a speed of 4 knots at the border of the Ankara's illegal maritime notice (Navtex).

In the next three months we must try to avoid a Greek-Turkish "incident." No one can predict what sort of incident that might be, unless it is preempted by some major event. Turkey tends to make good on its public statements, which means we should expect to see Turkish exploratory drilling in an area close to Crete or Kastellorizo by September.

A mild earthquake, measuring 4.1 on the Richter scale, struck the sea bed off the island of Kastellorizo on Wednesday morning, according to the National Observatory of Athens' Geodynamic Institute.

No damage or injuries were reported.

Sections of 24 blocks outlined in the Turkish Government Gazette on May 30 stemming from the contentious maritime borders agreement signed last November between Turkey and the Tripoli-based government in Libya come within or beyond 6 nautical miles of the coasts of eastern Crete, Kasos, Karpathos and Rhodes, and overlap the Greek continental shelf.

Athens on Wednesday responded to fresh claims by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu that the sovereignty of certain Greek islands and islets "is not clear" and dismissing last weekend's incident over the eastern Aegean.

Greece remained on alert over the long Easter weekend with its coast guard and navy on standby, due to concerns that Turkey may escalate tensions either in the Eastern Mediterranean, the Aegean or at the Evros land border in order to divert attention from the domestic problems faced by Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government. 

Turkey on March 26 slammed a statement by the Greek Foreign Ministry over Turkish maritime jurisdiction areas in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Hami Aksoy, a spokesman for the Turkish Foreign Ministry, dubbed the Greek statement "unfortunate and misleading."

A pair of Turkish F-16 fighter jets flew over Greece's southeastern Aegean island of Ro on Wednesday without authorization.

According to an announcement from the Hellenic National Defense General Staff (GEETHA), the pair of jets flew over the tiny islet near Kastellorizo at 9.25 a.m. and 9.28 a.m. at an altitude of 14,000 and 13,500 feet respectively.

Turkey's recent activity near the Evros land border with Greece and the course on Friday of its Oruc Reis research vessel in the Aegean, accompanied by two support ships and a frigate, sailing up to 50 nautical miles southeast of Kastellorizo, is viewed in Athens as another example of Ankara's bid to test its resolve.

A French oceanographic vessel, licensed by Athens, is planning to conduct research in an area stretching from the southern Ionian Sea to a spot east of the island of Crete from early March until mid-April.

The area in question has been included in a controversial maritime border memorandum signed between Turkey and the Tripoli-based government in Libya.