Turkish fishing vessels have appeared off the coast of Mykonos and Paros in the Cyclades - The fact is of particular importance after the signing of the decree by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for the conversion of Hagia Sophia into to mosque, Proto Thema reported.
The massive "invasion" in Greek territorial waters occurred in recent days.
The positions of the Turkish fishing vessels are recorded on the ship map of MarineTraffic, while there are also relevant complaints from residents and visitors to the island. In particular, there are three large boats named Tuncay Sagun 6, Güler Kardeşler 4 and Cihan Cengiz Karadeniz.
Beyond Mykonos however, Turkish fishing vessels (of considerable size), appeared at the same time to fish both off the coast of Paros in the Cyclades and very close to the shores of Agathonisi in the Dodacanese. Although it is not the first time that Turkish fishing boats appear en masse at such a short distance from the Greek coast (they have been located even just a mile away, something that is forbidden even for Greek trawlers), nevertheless in this case it is of particular importance as it is occurred just one day after the decree of Erdoğan on the conversion of Hagia Sophia from a museum to a mosque.
The impressive thing is that the Turkish fishermen are such a short distance from the Greek coast but without any inconvenience or control by the Greek authorities, which may be due to the lack of staff and means that exists since the interest of the Coast Guard has shifted to the eastern borders of the country to address the flow of migrants, or the concern of further escalation in Greek-Turkish tension.
In any case, the systematic approach of Turkish fishing vessels at an extremely short distance from Greek islands, even on rocky islets, creates an additional platform of confrontation in the Greek-Turkish as it could take on the dimensions of another operation of practical questioning of our national sovereignty.
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