Turkish threat of war over sea border affirmed

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is seen successful a 2025 record photo. [AP]

An advisor to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed Friday that Turkey’s menace of war if Greece extends its oversea territory to 12 nautical miles from the existent 6 is still portion of Turkey’s policy.

Cagri Erhan, an academic, said the 1995 determination by Turkey’s Parliament is still authoritative argumentation and that an hold of territorial waters “by adjacent 1 centimeter” would represent a origin of war (casus belli).

Erhan added that authorities under mentation to codify Turkey’s oversea claims, agelong presented under the slogan “Blue Homeland,” is not a hostile enactment against Greece.

Turkey’s presumption connected the territorial waters is that, arsenic the Turkish mainland is “hemmed in” by a string of adjacent Greek islands implicit a ample portion of its coast, extending the waters would beryllium a hostile act. Greece has retorted that it has each close to widen its waters if and when it decides to bash so.

In some cases where the Greek islands are too adjacent to the Turkish coastline, territorial water borders are astatine mid-distance.

The world is that, under the contiguous territorial waters, there are still corridors that let ships to transverse the Aegean Sea successful planetary waters. An hold to 12 miles would mean that ships traveling betwixt the Black Sea and the Mediterranean would person to transverse Greek territory astatine some point.

Selective leaks astir the contented of the authorities person continued, including 1 that the Turkish president would person unilateral powers to specify an Exclusive Maritime Zone of up to 200 nautical miles. Such an extension, however, would necessitate the consent of bordering states, according to the United Nations Convention connected the Law of the Sea, which Turkey has not ratified.

Turkish officials person leaked that the authorization vested successful the president is simply a effect to akin moves by the Republic of Cyprus – which Turkey does not admit – and that Turkey cannot beryllium a passive follower of events successful the Eastern Mediterranean.