Athens monitoring Turkish maritime legislation

Athens is focusing connected Turkey’s reported plans to incorporated into home instrumentality the outer limits of the continental support Ankara says it possesses, pursuing leaks astir a forthcoming legislative inaugural successful the Turkish Parliament.

Greek officials are chiefly acrophobic with the continental support due to the fact that it concerns the workout of sovereign rights and, depending connected the last signifier of the Turkish initiative, could go different source of deterioration successful Greek-Turkish relations and an effort to enforce those claims successful practice.

The contented comes aft tensions surrounding the Greece-Cyprus energy interconnection project, the Great Sea Interconnector, intensified from July 2024 onward, astir 18 months aft the opening of a play described arsenic “calm waters” successful the Aegean and 8 months aft the signing of the Athens Declaration successful December 2023.

Athens’ nationalist effect is expected to beryllium connected the last signifier of the measure that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s authorities submits to Parliament. The projected authorities is expected to travel positions outlined successful a representation published astir a year agone by the National Research Center for Maritime Law astatine the University of Ankara, known arsenic DEHUKAM.

That representation included Turkish claims successful the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean involving the continental shelf, exclusive economical zones, territorial waters, search-and-rescue areas and imperishable firing ranges.

Turkey, however, has not retreated from its casus belli position, adopted by the Turkish Parliament successful 1995 aft Greece ratified the UN Convention connected the Law of the Sea. Ankara has besides continued processing further interpretations of planetary legality, while citing the United States’ non-adoption of the normal without noting that Washington accepts its principles regarding islands and land formations.

Ankara is besides seeking to reply Greek initiatives, including maritime parks, maritime spatial readying and agreements with Exxon Mobil for probe south of Crete. Incidents such arsenic the obstruction of probe by a Dutch vessel successful planetary waters eastbound of Crete two weeks agone bespeak the prevailing clime successful Ankara.

Turkey has pursued a maritime argumentation successful caller years. In 2019, it informed the United Nations of the outer limits of its claimed continental support up to the 28th meridian, followed by the Turkish-Libyan memorandum and maps showing exploration blocks for the state vigor institution TPAO.