Greece plans to extend its territorial waters further, including potentially in the Aegean Sea, Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis said on Friday, despite Turkey’s long-standing threat of war should Athens take such a step.
– The NATO allies, but historic rivals, have eased tensions in recent years but remain at odds over where their continental shelves begin and end in the Aegean – an area believed to hold significant energy potential and with implications for overflights and airspace.
– Greece has already extended its territorial waters in the Ionian Sea to 12 nautical miles from six, following agreements with Italy, and it has signed a maritime delimitation deal with Egypt in the eastern Mediterranean.
– But it has avoided similar moves in the Aegean, where Ankara objected sharply.
– In 1995, the Turkish parliament declared a “casus belli”, or cause for war, if Greece unilaterally extended its waters beyond six nautical miles in the Aegean, a position Athens says violates international maritime law.
– Gerapetritis said further expansion was expected.
– “Today, our sovereignty in the Aegean Sea extends to six nautical miles,” Gerapetritis said.
– “As there was an agreement with Egypt, as there was an agreement with Italy, there will also be a (further) extension of the territorial waters.”
– In July, Greece took another step by unveiling the boundaries of two planned marine parks in the Ionian and Aegean seas.
– The Aegean park, covering 9,500 square kilometres (3,668 square miles), would initially expand around the southern Cyclades islands, further south of Turkey, according to the maps submitted by Athens.
– The announcement has drawn objections from Ankara.
– Greece says the only issue it is prepared to discuss with Turkey is the demarcation of their maritime zones, including the continental shelf and an exclusive economic zone.