BERLIN, May 17 (UPI) -- A German science vessel conducting research in the Aegean Sea unwittingly prompted Turkey and Greece to dispatch warships, showing how fragile relations between the two countries remain.
"Several Turkish frigates paid us a visit for several days," Michael Schneider, captain of the Poseidon, a research ship manned with 11 scientists and 15 crew members, told United Press International via telephone Wednesday. Schneider said the ship at all times had been in Greek or international waters. "I don't really know what they wanted," he said.
Ankara rejects the sea borders the United Nations has drawn in the Aegean Sea, waters that are dotted with several Greek islands, some of them very close to the Turkish coastline.
Turkey contests that some of the waters officials have deemed international belong to Turkey. As the Poseidon only had a permit to research in Greek and international waters, and did not contact Turkish authorities, the Turkish navy sent some of its frigates to monitor -- apparently to "flex muscles," as Achim Kopf, a professor at Bremen University and the head of the German-Greek research mission, told UPI.
Kopf and his colleagues examined tectonic movements on the Aegean seabed, and on Wednesday returned to the harbor in Heraklion, Crete.
Greece, not wanting to remain a bystander, sent one of its own gunboats toward the Poseidon, according to the Berliner Zeitung newspaper. The Poseidon crew said that while it came in contact with two vessels from the Greek coast guard, it did not spot a gunboat.
The Greek-Turkey row over sovereign water rights is based on more than national pride. Experts say natural gas and oil could sit below the seabed, though this has yet to be confirmed as research would surely stir up yet another crisis.
Bilateral rivalry also extends to airspace. According to Athens, Turkish jets last month violated Greek airspace no less than 53 times. Ankara counterpunches that there was a short dogfight when a Turkish jet was harassed by a Greek plane during a military rescue exercise.
The most divisive issue, however, is the island of Cyprus, a popular mediterranean tourist destination split into a Republic of Cyprus -- the Greek Cypriot south -- and a Turkish-occupied north since a 1974 Turkish invasion. Although only the internationally recognized Republic of Cyprus joined the EU on May 1, 2004, every Cypriot carrying a passport has the status of a European citizen. EU laws, however, do not apply to the north, which has so far been recognized by Turkey alone.
Resolution of the Cyprus issue, which has seen outbreaks of violence over the last four decades, is also high on the United Nations agenda. A U.N.-endorsed reunification plan facilitated direct talks between the leaders of both sides that culminated in a referendum last April. But while the Turkish north backed the plan, Greek Cypriots overwhelmingly rejected the proposal, mainly because it would have allowed Turkish troops to remain on the island for another 19 years.
Officials in Greece hope Turkey's accession talks with the European Union will help solve the matter, but that may be a shaky bet, one expert said.
In the past four to five years relations have become a bit smoother between both countries, but not by much, Heinz Kramer, Turkey and Greece expert at the Berlin-based German Institute for International and Security Affairs Wednesday told UPI.
"Brussels would like to see the Cyprus issue solved before it grants entry, and Ankara feels the EU can't demand anything until the accession isn't guaranteed," he said. "So it's a bit of a deadlock."
He added that while diplomatic relations between high-level politicians have improved, there has been no movement on the critical issues.
"The cold war in the Aegean Sea has turned into a cold peace," he said. "Much of it you could call childish bickering, but the problem is that each issue has taken on substantial political status."
The next research mission by the Poseidon starts at the end of the month. Project leaders have said they plan to ask Turkey for research permission this time.
