Turkey to create marine parks in the Aegean in response to Greece, report says
Turkey plans to establish its own marine parks in the Aegean Sea, a Turkish pro-government daily newspaper has reported.
Daily Sabah quotes an anonymous Turkish official who stated that Turkey’s Transportation and Infrastructure Ministry plans to map out its own marine parks in the region, in response to Greece’s decision to create a marine park in the Aegean.
A Turkish diplomatic source told Sabah that Greece’s decision was seen by Turkey as a fait accompli, since Ankara was neither consulted nor notified in advance.
In April, during an international oceans conference in Athens, Greece announced plans to create two large marine parks as part of a 780-million-euro program to protect biodiversity and marine ecosystems
The plan includes creating one marine park in the Aegean Sea and one in the Ionian Sea, bringing the total marine protected areas to over 30 percent of its waters.
The first will span 11 groups of deserted islands and islets from west of the island of Milos to Nisyros, known as “the Greek Galapagos” due to their rich biodiversity. The second will encompass an area starting north of Kefalonia and ending at Kythera and Antikythera.
Earlier this month, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan stated that Turkey does not view the plan as an “innocent environmental project,” but a something that it may potentially breach his country’s “red line.”
Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis has said that this is a purely environmental project.
