Greek, Turkish patrol ships collide near disputed islets      

ATHENS

A Turkish patrol boat and a Greek gunboat on Jan. 17 collided near a disputed islet group in the Aegean. 

“The vessels’ sides came together. There was no damage and nobody was hurt. The incident is over,” a Greek navy source was quoted as saying by AFP. 

The incident occurred near the uninhabited Imia islets, just off the Turkish coast and a historic flare point in a long-running demarcation dispute.     

The Kardak islets lie just seven kilometers from the Turkish resort town of Bodrum in southwest. 

A row over their sovereignty islets flared in January 1996, when the two countries sent marines to two neighboring islands in a sign of an imminent armed confrontation.

They then withdrew their troops after heavy diplomatic pressure by the United States.