NATO HOLDS EMERGENCY MEETING ON AEGEAN CRISIS

  NATO ambassadors met in emergency
  session today to discuss tension between members Greece and
  Turkey over a disputed area of the Aegean Sea on the Western
  Alliance's southern flank, Greek diplomatic sources said.
      They said no information had yet emerged from the meeting,
  called after statements from both countries that they were
  prepared to back rival oil exploration teams with warships.
      General Guven Ergenc, Secretary General of the Turkish
  General Staff, said today the Turkish research ship Sismik 1,
  escorted by an unspecified number of warships, would sail into
  disputed waters in the Aegean Sea tomorrow morning.
      Greek Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou said "The military
  readiness of our country is able now to give a very hard lesson
  if our neighbours (Turkey) were to carry out military actions."
      The row erupted when the Greek government said last month
  that it was taking control of a Canadian-led consortium which
  was already producing oil off the Greek island of Thassos and
  would drill in the same area after the takeover.
  

