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Türkiye on Friday denounced the European Commission’s decision to host Greece’s newly revised maritime spatial planning map, arguing that Athens is once again attempting to legitimize unlawful claims that encroach upon Türkiye’s rightful maritime jurisdiction in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Aegean. The issue is a longstanding source of hostilities between the two countries, which nowadays pursue rapprochement.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Öncü Keçeli said in a statement on the social media platform X that Türkiye closely follows global efforts on maritime spatial planning (MSP), noting that Ankara announced its national MSP on April 16 and formally notified UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of it on June 12.
Keçeli on Friday said the map uploaded to the EU platform, attributed to “competent Greek authorities,” tries to formalize maritime claims that contradict international law.
“It has been observed that the Greek MSP map, which violates Türkiye’s maritime jurisdiction areas in the Aegean Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean, has been updated on the European Commission’s MSP Platform website with reference to competent Greek authorities,” he said.
According to Keçeli, Greece is trying to use the MSP process to push its controversial maritime claims through EU channels.
“It is understood that Greece, which continues to disregard the fundamental principles of international maritime law, is attempting to have the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) that it has not officially declared in the Eastern Mediterranean accepted through the EU by instrumentalizing the MSP map,” he said. “Türkiye rejects this unlawful fait accompli attempt.”
Keçeli told how Türkiye submitted its comprehensive legal position on the outer limits of its continental shelf in the Eastern Mediterranean to the U.N. back on March 18, 2020.
“In this regard, the so-called EEZ depicted in the Greek MSP map in the Eastern Mediterranean lies within the Turkish continental shelf,” he said.
He also underlined that any Greek effort to legitimize its EEZ claims, or the outer limits of its continental shelf, which Athens has not delimited with neighboring states, through such maps can in no way succeed.
“These attempts are doomed to fail and constitute unilateral steps contrary to international law,” he said.
The MSP is crucial for Türkiye’s sustainable use of territorial waters and international recognition. Officials have said its publication was part of efforts for the “Blue Homeland,” Türkiye’s ambitions and goals to protect its territorial waters.
Greece has protested the plan that designates zones for specific activities in the Aegean Sea of the Eastern Mediterranean, accusing Ankara of attempting to claim areas of so-called Greek “jurisdiction” in a move without “legal grounds.” Maritime spatial plans define where activities, including fishing, sea transport, tourism, aquaculture and renewable energy projects, can take place.
A separate Greek plan for a marine park in the Aegean Sea had irked Ankara earlier this year, which has said it would not accept a possible “fait accompli on geographical features whose status is disputed.”
The two countries came close to an all-out war in the 1990s over the Aegean Sea, and they still remain vigilant, with Türkiye concentrating on developing a domestic defense industry. Greece relies on foreign partners to boost its defenses. An agreement on where their maritime zones begin and end is important for determining rights over possible gas reserves and power infrastructure schemes.
Türkiye, which has the longest continental coastline in the Eastern Mediterranean, rejects the maritime boundary claims of Greece and the Greek Cypriot administration, arguing that their excessive claims violate the sovereign rights of both Türkiye and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC).
