The Turkish Foreign Ministry strongly condemned Greece for an incident involving a Greek coast guard boat opening fire on a Turkish commercial ship on Monday.
In a written statement, the ministry said the Turkish ship, M/V ACT, carrying dry cargo, was sailing from the port of Iskenderun in southern Turkey to the port in İzmit in northwestern Turkey when it came under attack by a Greek coast guard boat.
"We strongly condemn the unmeasured act of Greek authorities in this disgusting incident," the statement read.
"There can be no justification for opening fire on an unarmed ship sailing from one Turkish port to another," it added.
The statement said the only solace is that no one got killed or wounded in the incident.
Defense Minister Fikri Işık also condemned the incident, saying there can be no logical explanation to opening fire on a commercial ship cruising in international waters.
The commercial ship that had come under attack later docked at the port of Marmaris in southwestern Turkey after it was escorted by three Turkish coastal guard boats and an assault boat.
After the ship docked, ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) Muğla lawmaker Nihat Öztürk inspected the ship riddled with bullet marks.
Speaking to reporters, Öztürk said the ship, carrying 13 crew members, had more than 20 bullet marks.
"These bullets were randomly shot. If one of these bullets had hit one of our friends then perhaps we would be talking about other things now," he added.
