Greece reserves the right to extent its sea borders around Crete, in other parts of its territory in addition to the Ionian Sea, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Wednesday.
It is the first time since 1947 that Greece will be expanding its national sovereign territory, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said as Parliament prepared to vote on a bill for the extension of Greece’s territorial waters to 12 nautical miles, from six, in the Ionian Sea.
He said Greece retained the right to exercise corresponding rights in Crete and other parts of its territory.
Turkey has warned that an eastern extension of Greece’s territorial borders would be a “casus belli,” or cause for war.
“It is a clear message that the Greek government sends to those who attempt to deprive Greece of this right through threats and bullying,” the PM said, adding that “today’s development is not accidental and nothing was self evident”.
Mitsotakis said the country was expanding its sovereign territory “neither by annexing [foreign] territory, nor at the expense of other states, but by following procedures that are based on international law,” a reference to the United Nations Law of the Sea which gives Greece the right to extend its sea borders to 12 miles.
Mitsotakis noted that the government has signed successive agreements with Italy and Egypt and these agreements were the result of hard and difficult negotiations under Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias.
“They constitute two rings of peace and cooperation and a model for security and stability in an area that some are threatening to turn it into a minefield. Recently, the Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama stated that extension to 12 nautical miles is Greece’s inalienable right, proving that the Mediterranean can become as sea of peace.”
