ATHENS (Reuters) - A Greek coast guard vessel rushed to help a Greek fishing boat that was ordered by a Turkish military ship to leave an area near a small disputed island in the Aegean sea on Tuesday, the Greek defence ministry said.
The incident off the uninhabited island, known in Greece as Imia and in Turkey as Kardak, over which the two traditional rivals almost went to war 10 years ago, comes days after fighter jets from the two nations collided over the Aegean sea.
"This is not an unusual event but given that it only comes days after the planes' crash, it is at least suspect," a Greek Defence Ministry official told Reuters.
The Greek and Turkish ships were holding their positions, he said. The Greek coastguard was called in after a Greek fisherman from a nearby eastern Aegean island was ordered away from the area.
NATO members Greece and Turkey regularly squabble over territorial waters in the Aegean and fishermen often end up in the middle of the row.
The two neighbours have still to resolve several territorial disputes in the Aegean and the divided island of Cyprus, despite a thawing of relations in the past six years.
Athens accused Ankara last week of violating its flight information region without submitting flight plans and causing the collision that killed the Greek pilot. It said it had scrambled its fighter jets to identify the Turkish planes.
Ankara said it was not obliged to inform Athens of its flights in the Aegean, saying it was international airspace and not Greek-controlled, and blamed Greece for the crash.
EU-member Greece has backed Turkey's EU aspirations but warned that they could be dashed if Ankara does not behave like a good neighbour.
Why the Turks have to provoke in this way? How did the poor fisherman bothered them?
