Athens and Ankara play tag

(B2) The Greek-Turkish saga continues... After the arrest by Turkey of the two Greek soldiers who crossed the border by mistake (read: The two Greek soldiers still detained in Turkey. Europe wants a soft solution), the incidents continue between Athens and Ankara at the beginning of May.

Greece, victim of Turkish hackers

The week started in a rather eventful way between the two countries. Turkish hackers first hacked Greek websites (the site of a press agency and the Greek site of Suzuki). They posted messages there accusing Greece of being partner with terrorists, supporting members of the treacherous terrorist organization, FETÖ with the Turkish flag in the background.

Turkish employee sentenced

The week continued with the conviction, Thursday (3 May), by the court of Orestiada, in Greece, of a Turkish employee. The day before (May 2), he had had the misfortune to cross the border by accident on board a backhoe. He was arrested not far from where the two Greek soldiers had also been arrested in early March. The 38-year-old man defends himself by arguing that he was laying a water pipe for the Turkish municipality of Edirne and that he did not hear the warnings of the Greek soldiers, because machine noise. He was, however, given a five-month suspended prison sentence.

A damaged Greek boat

Finally, on Friday (May 4), in the morning, an incident occurred in the Aegean Sea between a Greek warship and a Turkish merchant ship. A Turkish merchant ship, the Karmate, struck, off the island of Lesvos in the eastern Aegean Sea, the Greek deep-sea patrol vessel Armatolos (P-18) which was taking part in a NATO exercise " Aegean Activity ". The Turkish ship did not deign to answer the calls of the Greek ship, according to Kathimerini, continuing its course towards Turkish territorial waters. According to the Greek Navy, the incident caused no injuries or significant damage. The Armatolos was therefore able to continue its mission.

(Claire Boutry, st., with AFP)