Turkey renews dispute over maritime zones
After the naval incident in the southeastern Aegean, where a flotilla of Turkish ships gathered near two Greek islands, Kassos and Karpathos, claiming that a research ship had violated its continental shelf, Turkey insists that it was the one that gave the ship permission to conclude its research and depart, implying that the Greek navigational warning that described the research ship’s mission was invalid.
The incident, which nearly disrupted the detente between the two countries and almost turned the clock back to the period of tension that prevailed between 2018 and 2022, brought again to the fore Turkish claims against chunks of Greece’s exclusive maritime zone.
In a radio interview Thursday, Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis said that the so-called Turkish-Libyan memorandum, which claims that the exclusive maritime zones of the two countries are contiguous, despite the presence of Greece and Egypt between them, is invalid and illegal, a view shared by all EU countries and Egypt, with which Greece has delimited their respective maritime zones.
“The Italian vessel’s research was completed inside Greek territorial waters and inside Greece’s maritime zone,” Gerapetritis said. He noted that the research lasted somewhat longer than planned and that the ship departed not because Turkey approved it, as Ankara claims, but because its job was done.
Turkey’s National Security Council reacted Thursday with a statement that said among, other things, “we will not allow our constructive approach, which prioritizes dialogue on issues related to the Aegean and the Mediterranean to be taken advantage of.” But Turkish Defense Ministry sources, which briefed the country’s media, said “we want to thank Greek and Italian authorities for respecting our maritime jurisdiction and for their cooperation.”
