Ankara rebuffs groundless Greek claims that Turkish forces entered their waters

By Gozde Bayar

ANKARA (AA) - Türkiye rebuffed groundless claims Tuesday by Greece, which said a Turkish offshore vessel displayed weapons and obstructed search and rescue operations by entering the Greek area of responsibility and territorial waters in the Aegean Sea.

The claims stem from an Oct. 31 incident in which a boat was assigned to carry out search and rescue operations in the south of Samos Island to find eight missing people, the Turkish Coast Guard Command said in a statement.

Turkish forces were dispatched to the location upon notification that a body was detected in the sea by a Saint Kitts and Nevis-flagged commercial ship, Petro Bulk, it added.

The body was taken from the sea at 11.35 p.m. local time and transferred to Kusadasi Port to carry out necessary procedures, it said.

“Contrary to what was claimed by the Greek authorities, the body was taken by the Turkish Coast Guard Boat in the Turkish search and rescue region and international waters declared to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) under the 1979 Hamburg International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue,” it added.

“It is very obvious that the attitude adopted by the Greek Coast Guard personnel is against international law as well as against human rights at a level that will hurt the conscience of the whole world public opinion,” it said.

Türkiye has been a key transit point for asylum seekers aiming to cross into Europe to start new lives, especially those fleeing war and persecution.

Human rights groups and media outlets have frequently reported on illegal pushbacks and human rights breaches by Greek authorities.

Ankara and global rights groups have repeatedly condemned Greece’s illegal practice of pushing back asylum seekers, saying it violates humanitarian values and international law by endangering the lives of vulnerable migrants, including women and children.