The Greek Embassy in Ankara has filed a formal protest with the Turkish Foreign Ministry over both Turkey’s public statements regarding Greece’s new Special Spatial Planning Framework and the presidential decisions of August 15 declaring two “national” marine parks.
In mid-August, Turkey declared two marine parks, one in the eastern Mediterranean and another in the northern Aegean. The first isolates Kastellorizo, while the second lies in international waters.
By declaring the two parks, Turkey is advancing its positions, which Greece considers contrary to international law, that Greek islands have no sovereign rights beyond six nautical miles and that the continental shelf should be delimited on the basis of mainland coastlines, effectively dividing the Aegean in half.
Following the signing of the agreement on the “Achilles Shield,” Recep Tayyip Erdoğan again raised the issue of demilitarising the islands, further increasing tensions.
Through the formal protest, Greece rejects the declaration of the marine parks as invalid and without legal effect insofar as they extend into areas outside Turkish jurisdiction and within the Greek continental shelf.
The second part of the protest concerns Greece’s new Special Spatial Planning Framework for industry and supply chains, issued in late August, which also covers the Aegean islands.
A Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson said the Greek spatial planning framework, which also includes maritime areas in the Aegean, has no “legal consequences” for Turkey, reiterating Ankara’s longstanding claims concerning sovereignty issues in the Aegean.
The Greek Foreign Ministry stressed that “the sovereignty regime in the Aegean has been clearly and definitively established by the relevant international treaties.”
Sources: Κathimerini [1], [2], Ta Nea
What is fyi.news?
