[ad_1]
Are we close to a new era in Turkish-Greek relations?
The Greek daily To Vima said last week that Turkey had recognized Greece's decision to extend the breadth of its territorial waters from six to 12 nautical miles. The newspaper said that this had been agreed at a meeting of delegations of foreign ministries of both countries.
If confirmed, Turkey's policy in this area will change considerably. Turkey and Greece have a large inventory of issues related to their claims and counterclaims in the Aegean and elsewhere. Aegean issues include the question of the continental shelf of the Anatolian continent. The limits of this plateau are not yet demarcated and Turkey claims that the plateau extends beyond the Greek islands located near the Anatolian mainland. The continental shelf is important for oil and gas exploration and the extraction of other natural resources.
The demilitarized status of the Greek islands in the eastern Aegean is another problem. After the defeat of the Ottoman Empire during the Balkan wars of 1912-13, he had to surrender almost all of his Aegean islands to Greece, provided they were demilitarized. But over the years, Greece has militarized them.
A third problem is the demarcation line of air traffic control zones over the Aegean Sea. It is on this line that pilots, once crossed, must identify their aircraft at a ground control station. Greece uses this line as the limit of its national airspace and harasses Turkish military planes crossing it, claiming that they have violated its airspace.
The fourth is the status of uninhabited islets, rocks and geographical formations off the Aegean islands. Turkey says that, if none of the international agreements mention the name of such an outcrop, it should remain Turkish territory, as all these islands belonged to the Ottoman Empire and only those named in these agreements were transferred to Greece.
The fifth problem is the subject of this article and concerns the breadth of the territorial waters of the Greek islands of the Aegean Sea. In 1995, the Greek Parliament authorized the Government to extend the breadth of territorial waters to 12 nautical miles, as appropriate. The Turkish parliament has reciprocated by stating that, if Greece did, it would consider this a "casus belli" – a legitimate reason for declaring war.
The reason for Turkey's keen reaction is that many Greek islands situated on the Aegean Sea are so close to the Turkish coasts and each other that when you trace a circle of 12 nautical miles around each Greek island the Aegean ports of Turkey will be cut entirely. From the high seas, Turkish ships will not even be able to sail from one Turkish port to another without crossing the territorial waters of the Greek islands.
This agreement leaves out of its scope a number of other outstanding issues between the two countries, including the status of uninhabited islets, rocks and geographical formations; the delimitation of exclusive economic zones on the high seas; the demilitarized status of the eastern Aegean islands; and the question of the continental shelf of the islands.
Yasar Yakis
Turkish ships may only cross Greek territorial waters using their right of "innocent passage", which means that the Greek authorities will have the right to board and inspect any Turkish ship using this right. . Turkey has stated that such restrictions would constitute a serious obstacle to the free movement of Turkish ships and strangle the nation.
To Vima also says that the Greek decision will not apply to the northern shores of Turkey around Canakkale in the Dardanelles Strait; the breadth of the territorial waters will be maintained at six nautical miles in the Dodecanese (so-called "Twelve Islands" region) in the south of the Aegean; and that the territorial waters of the Eastern Aegean Sea will not be extended to 12 nautical miles.
Greece will also adjust the limits of its airspace to the new breadth of territorial waters.
Both delegations would have agreed that, if the agreement on territorial waters and airspace was finalized, the parties could refer the matter of the delimitation of the continental shelf to the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
This agreement leaves out of its scope a number of other outstanding issues between the two countries, including the status of uninhabited islets, rocks and geographical formations; the delimitation of exclusive economic zones on the high seas; the demilitarized status of the eastern Aegean islands; and the question of the continental shelf of the islands. None of these will be easy to solve. Strong opposition can be expected from opposition parties in the Turkish parliament regarding the ratification of this agreement, but the dominance of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan over his ruling party, the AKP, can guarantee ratification without acrimony.
If finalized, this could mark the beginning of a new era in Turkish-Greek relations and could lead to the solution of other problems.
- Yasar Yakis is a former Foreign Minister of Turkey and a founding member of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). Twitter: @yakis_yasar
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by the authors of this section are theirs and do not necessarily reflect the views of Arab News.
Source link
