Turkey, Greece agree to settle tensions through dialogue after vessels collision

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim has said Ankara and Athens have agreed to settle current tensions through dialogue.

The statement came a day after a Greek coast guard vessel was damaged in a collision with a Turkish patrol boat in the Aegean Sea, AP said.

According to Yildirim, he told Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in a late Tuesday telephone call that Greece must refrain from acts that strain ties, adding that the Aegean should be a “sea of friendship.”

He added that an agreement was reached “that as of now [tensions] are settled politically and diplomatically in a more calm way, through mutual understanding and with the channels of dialogue constantly open.”

Greek and Turkish military chiefs will meet on the margins of a NATO meeting in Brussels in May, Yildirim said.