‘Greek forces fired more than 30 times at Turkish boat’

Yorgo Kırbaki - ATHENS

Greeks threw rope at the ship’s screw to stop us and then fired more than 30 times, the official in charge of the Turkish ship attacked by Greek officers has said.

“They fired more than 30 times with machine guns from both sides of the ship and then followed us for half an hour for three miles,” said Cengiz Oluş, adding that once Turkish Coast Guard boats came to the area, the Greek boats withdrew.

Two Greek coast guard boats opened harassment fire on the Comoros-flagged Ro-Ro ship “Anatolian” in international waters off the Bozcaada district of the Aegean province of Çanakkale.

In its statement regarding the attack, the Turkish Interior Ministry stated that there were a total of 18 personnel on board, including three Turks, six Egyptians, four Somalis and five Azerbaijanis, informing that there was no loss of life and no injured personnel on the ship.

After the fire, the Turkish Foreign Ministry took initiatives before Greece in Ankara and Athens, protesting the attack and requesting swift investigation and explanation.

Greece, on the other hand, admitted that Greek security forces opened fire on the Anatolian.

Hellenic Coast Guard claimed that the Greek security forces, after seeing them as “suspicious,” ordered Anatolian to stop while navigating within “Greek territorial waters” in order to carry out the necessary inspection.

The ship’s captain did not obey this order and the Greek elements “opened warning fire towards the safe points of the ship,” it added.