Turkish navy came face-off with Greek frigate, blames of harassing in Mediterranean

Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency said on Thursday that the navy had stopped a Greek frigate from harassing a Turkish ship in the Mediterranean. It did not give further details.

Turkey, Greece and Cyprus's internationally recognised Greek Cypriot government have long disputed their overlapping claims of jurisdiction for offshore oil and gas research in the Mediterranean.

The ship Barbaros Hayreddin Pasa was carrying out seismic research activity, the foreign ministry said earlier.

It also said Turkey would continue to exercise its sovereign rights and jurisdiction over its continental shelf.

"We recommend that Greece abstain from acts that would cause an escalation in the region," the ministry said in a statement.

A Greek defence source denied there was an incident but said the Greeks were monitoring the activity of the Barbaros Hayreddin Pasa. The vessel appeared to be in an area claimed by Cyprus for future hydrocarbons exploration, west of the island.

Turkey had issued a Navtex, an advisory to ships including coordinates, that it would be conducting seismic surveys in the Mediterranean Sea from Oct. 18 to Feb. 1.