The spokesman for the European Commission, Margaritis Schinas, said today that the Commision is closely monitoring the tensions in the Aegean, and he called on Turkey to commit itself to good bilateral relations with Greece, hours after a Turkish Coast Guard ship rammed an unarmed Greek Coast Guard ship near the Greek rock islets of Imia.

The Greek Coast Ship Gavdos was financed mostly by the EU, so that it may patrol the EU borders.

“We reiterate the need for Turkey to commit unequivocally to good neighbourly relations and avoid any kind of source of friction or action directed against member-states, which damages good neighbourly relations and the peaceful settlement of disputes,” Schinas said,

“We also would like to stress the need to respect the sovereignty of member-states over their territorial sea and airspace, and we’d also like to say that negative statements that damage good neighbourly relations should be avoided.”

Schinas was answering a question at his daily briefing regarding the incident near Imia last night.