THE GREEK Prime Minister, Mr Costas Simitis, has accused Turkey of undermining peace in the Aegean Sea region and said Greece's armed forces were ready to face any provocation.
Turkey recently raised the question of the sovereignty of Gavdos, an inhabited Greek island south of Crete.
"Turkey systematically undermines stability in the region and the climate of good neighbourliness. . . our armed forces are in full readiness," Mr Simitis told reporters after a special cabinet meeting on foreign policy and defence.
"Turkey must understand that its strategy of provoking Greece will lead it to a dead end. Greece is determined to face this strategy with all means," he added.
Athens accused Turkey last week of adding Gavdos to its list of territorial disputes with Greece after the outgoing Turkish prime minister, Mr Mesut Yilmaz, raised the claim, not for the first time.
The Foreign Minister, Mr Theodoros Pangalos, has said a Turkish naval officer, Mr Hussein Cifci, Ankara's representative at Nato's naval command in Naples, also raised the question of the sovereignty of Gavdos.
Mr Pangalos demanded Ankara deny it had any claims on Gavdos and said that failure to do so would mean that this was the official position of the Turkish government. But Turkey has called for an investigation on the legal status of Gavdos.
"It should be investigated whether this Gavdos island is also among the islets whose status needs to be determined," the Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mr Omer Akbel, said.
Greece and Turkey, both Nato members, came close to armed conflict in January in a tense air and naval stand off over rights on an uninhabited islet in the Aegean Sea. A clash was averted after mediation by the US.
The Turkish naval officer made his comments during a Naples planning session for a Nato exercise around Crete this autumn, saying the island should not be included in the exercises.
Mr Simitis said Greece had informed its European partners of the Turkish provocations and had complained to international organisations over the Gavdos issue.