Greek fishermen have denounced that Turkish fishermen fired shots at them near the island of Leros in the Dodecanese in Greek territorial waters. Nobody was hurt in the incident that took place off the islet of Kalapodi, some 300 meters from the shores of Leros on Sunday morning.
Speaking to media, one of the fishermen said that they saw two Turkish fishing boats approaching the area where they had thrown their nets.
The Greek fishermen reportedly shouted at the Turkish fishermen to leave the area but the latter replied with gun shots.
“There were six fire shots,” fisherman Lefteris Yannoukas who was on one of the fishing boats told private Alpha TV. “Not straight shots, two single shots, four were blazing,”
The Greek fishermen left and informed the Coast Guard and the Association of the local Fisherman.
When two coast guard vessels arrived, the Turkish fishing boats were already moving in international waters.
“The Turkish fishermen were at a distance of 200 meters.Such an incident that they shot at us happened for the first time. Of course, we got scared, we didn’t expect something like that,” Kostas Tsiftis, one of the fishermen, said.
He added that almost 30 Turkish fishing boats come in Greek territorial water daily since July 15 “but it was the first time they came so dangerously close to the Greek islands.”
The Greek fishermen were to take some fishing tools they had stored on the islet, when the Turkish fishing boats approached them.