Turkish Navy Intercepts an Israeli Ship in the Eastern Mediterranean

And the Israeli "Channel 13" quoted, on Saturday evening, official sources, that "Turkish naval ships chased an Israeli research vessel that conducted tests in the Cypriot economic waters."

Israeli officials familiar with the channel said that the "extraordinary" accident occurred about two weeks ago with the Israeli research ship "Pat Galim", which is affiliated with the Institute for the Study of Seas and Lakes of the Israeli Ministry of Energy, explaining that it was on a mission in the region, and a number of researchers from Ben Gurion University with Cypriot geologist, working on joint projects with the approval of the Cypriot government.

"The Turkish navy ships approached the Israeli ship, and Turkish officers communicated with its captain over the radio, and the Turkish navy asked to reveal the nature of the Israeli ship's mission and the work it is doing," the channel said.

The sources added that "the Turkish officers, after an argument, demanded the Israeli research ship to leave the area immediately and not continue to conduct research, forcing it to stop its activity and sail to another area despite its presence in the Cypriot economic waters which are not under the control of Turkey."

This incident took place against the backdrop of the great deterioration in relations between Turkey on the one hand and Greece and Cyprus on the other hand due to sharp differences over gas and oil fields in the eastern Mediterranean, where the Turkish government began last May, energy exploration work in an area considered to belong to the Republic of Cyprus.