ANKARA, Jan. 28 (Xinhua) -- The Turkish Coast Guard on Sunday blocked Greece's Defense Minister from approaching disputed islets in the Aegean, Turkey's Interior Ministry said in a statement.

Turkish Coast guard ships warned off Panos Kammenos when he was heading to the Kardak islets in an assault boat to lay a wreath there.

The Greek boat left after the warning, according to the statement.

The Turkish General Staff also said in a written statement that navy and Coast Guard have prevented the Greek naval vessel Nikiforos and a Greek Coast Guard boat from moving towards the islets on Sunday morning.

The Kardak islets, also known as Imia in Greek, are a pair of small uninhabited islets located between the Greek island chain of the Dodecanese and the southwestern mainland coast of Turkey, over which the two countries broke out the crisis in 1996.