Greece, Turkey wade into maritime issues
Respective foreign ministers instructed to enter discussions on sea boundaries, continental shelves
The foreign ministers of Greece and Turkey have been tasked with discussing maritime boundaries and the delimitation of continental shelves, following last week’s brief yet pivotal meeting between Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
It marked a significant step forward in the longstanding territorial dispute between the two countries over maritime zones in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean seas.
Mitsotakis and Erdogan have empowered their respective foreign ministers, George Gerapetritis and Hakan Fidan, to engage in a two-phase negotiation process. The first phase will lay the groundwork, focusing on setting the legal and procedural framework for talks.
Central to this stage will be determining the applicable international law and establishing the possibility of referring any unresolved issues to an international court, such as the International Court of Justice in The Hague or the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in Hamburg.
The second phase will begin in early 2025, following the Greece-Turkey High-Level Cooperation Council meeting in January. This phase would involve more detailed negotiations, including discussions of specific maps and technical details regarding the delimitation of maritime zones. Both countries hope that these discussions will bring clarity to the contentious issue of overlapping claims, which has fueled tensions for decades.
Historically, negotiations over maritime boundaries between Greece and Turkey have been fraught with difficulty, with various efforts stalling over deep-seated differences. The issue is further complicated by differing interpretations of international law, especially regarding territorial waters and exclusive economic zones (EEZs) in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean.
Compared to previous efforts, the current diplomatic initiative has a renewed sense of purpose. Both sides are approaching the talks with cautious optimism, mindful of the geopolitical importance of the region and the potential economic gains from untapped energy resources in the contested waters. The emphasis on international legal frameworks and multilateral diplomacy, combined with the involvement of technical experts, is seen as a way to depoliticize the process and focus on practical solutions.
The timing of these negotiations is significant, with wider regional and international implications. The upcoming US presidential election adds an additional layer of uncertainty, as both Greece and Turkey maintain strong strategic relationships with Washington. The election results could influence the trajectory of negotiations, especially if shifts in American foreign policy affect the Eastern Mediterranean.
