Greece’s announcement to proceed with the establishment of two national marine parks in the Aegean and the Ionian Seas escalated quickly on Monday, with Turkey to criticize the Greek plans and the Foreign Ministry in Athens to promptly reject Ankara’s claims. .
Turkey criticize the Greek Marine Parks plans saying the move would have no legal impact on ongoing disputes between the two neighbors.
“The declaration of marine parks in the Aegean Sea will have no legal effect in the context of the interconnected Aegean disputes between the two countries – particularly regarding geographical formations whose sovereignty has not been transferred to Greece through international treaties,” the Foreign Ministry in Ankara said just a couple of hours after the announcement by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
Ankara also urged Greece to refrain from “unilateral actions in enclosed or semi-enclosed seas such as the Aegean and the Mediterranean,” adding that international maritime law promotes cooperation among coastal states, including on environmental issues.
Efforts to leverage “universal values such as environmental protection” in the context of sovereignty disputes would remain ineffective, the Foreign Ministry added, particularly when involving islands, islets, and rocky formations whose legal status is contested.
Turkey said it plans to announce its own marine conservation initiatives in the coming days.
Athens rejects Ankara’s claims
Ankara’s claims prompted the respond of the Foreign Ministry in Athens that said in a statement issued on Monday afternoon saying:
“The establishment of National Marine Parks in the Ionian and Aegean Seas is based on purely environmental criteria in areas of Greek sovereignty.
References to enclosed or semi-enclosed seas are completely non-territorial.
The legal status in the Aegean is clear. Greek sovereignty in this area is clearly and definitively defined by international treaty texts.
Greece is firmly in favor of dialogue with Turkey, with the aim of settling the only Greek-Turkish dispute, in accordance with international law, that of the delimitation of the continental shelf and Exclusive Economic Zone between the two countries.
The exercise of rights arising from Greek sovereignty is not a subject of negotiation.”
