Turkish boat tries to ram the Greek Coast Guard: Report

The Greek newspaper Dimokratia (Democracy) revealed snapshots from a video showing a Turkish boat trying to ram a Greek Coast Guard vessel in Greek territorial waters near the Aegean island Farmakonissi.

The newspaper featured the incident on its cover with the title “War in the Aegean” on Wednesday.

According to Dimokratia, the headquarters of the Greek Coast Guard described the incident that was happened on Jan.5 “dryly", just saying that the Turkish vessel carried out dangerous maneuvers with the aim of ramming the Coast Guard vessel, but the reality in those moments was “breathtaking”.

“The composure of the men of the Coast Guard, their movements, during every second that the engagement lasted - for it was an engagement - is the reason that no blood was shed that day. These shocking images show us how close a heated episode is and always because of the provocation and irrationality of the Turks,” it said.

The tensions between Turkey and Greece who have long been at odds over a string of issues, have build up lately over territorial claims in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Aegean and the status of the Aegean islands.

At first, the Turkish vessel began to circle the Greek vessel at a long distance, but always within Greek territorial waters, Dimokratia said.

“With each circle the Turks made, they got closer and closer to the Greek Coast Guard vessel. On the Greek boat, the men had taken the automatic weapons in their hands and had shot at its stern and were waiting for the movements of the Turks,” it said.

“At the last moment, the Turkish captain turned his steering wheel, got behind the Greek one and began to come dangerously close to ram it,” it added.

In response, the Greek Coast Guard started shooting in the air and made the Turks flee, the newspaper said.