Hellenic Navy chief Vice-Adm. Georgios Theodoroulakis was originally scheduled to attend a command transfer ceremony at the Turkish naval base of Axaz. Countries participating in the force on a permanent basis are Germany, Greece, Italy, Turkey and Spain.
Periodical participants are Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands and the United States.
The incident comes amid ever-improving ties between the two neighbors, although certain core differences directly related to Turkey's unilateral claims in the Aegean remain. Athens has for decades patiently pointed to International Law, as well as a handful of internationally recognized treaties as negating all of Ankara's claims.