The Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs has published 16 maps on its website showing “Turkey’s attempts to change the status quo by violating international law” in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean regions.
In a statement issued by the press office of the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it said that the comments included with the map “reflect Turkey’s requests to review the status quo in the region in 1973-2022” regarding territorial waters of Greece, continental shelf and islands.
In the statement, “For a deeper understanding of Turkish analysis on a large scale, the attached maps clearly and distinctly show Turkey’s illegal unilateral actions and claims. The maps begin with the status quo described in the Lausanne Treaties (1923) and Paris (1947). Turkey began attempting to issue an illegal license to the Turkish state oil company (TRAO) to search for oil on the Greek continental shelf in the northern Aegean Sea in 1973. Denial of Greece’s responsibility to conduct search and rescue operations in half of the Aegean in the 1980s The “gray areas” theory (Greek territorial waters and the islands discussed by Turkey), climbing with new licenses (for geology) and exploration studies) in the eastern Mediterranean , the “blue homeland” (Ankara’s water claims are in the Aegean, Mediterranean and Black Seas). vast land and land shelf in the Aegean Sea) and the “Turkish-Libyan Memorandum” and now the acceptance its as the official principles of the Republic of Turkey. Theory of the spreading regime ”.
The published maps show the extent of the Turkish investigation, which aims to change the status quo, violate international law and international maritime law, and endanger peace, security and stability in the region.
Turkey has not signed the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which allows countries to extend their territorial sea up to 12 nautical miles.
During the ratification of this agreement by the Greek Parliament in 1995, Ankara said that increasing Greece’s territorial waters in the Aegean Sea from 6 to 12 nautical miles would violate Turkey’s national sovereignty.
On May 31, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu accused Greece of violating the disarmament status of islands in the Aegean Sea. “Greece has violated the status of the islands, it must be disarmed, otherwise the issue of ownership of the islands will arise,” he said.
Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said in January that “Turkey has deployed the largest amphibious force and the largest amphibious fleet in the Mediterranean near the Greek islands” and at the same time demanded that Greece demilitarize its islands, that is, surrender the recognized islands. . The right to self -defense is enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations. Dendias stressed that Greece has offered Turkey to abide by the rules of international law and renounce the threat of war that Ankara plans to declare if Greece increases its territorial waters in the Aegean Sea from 6 nautical miles to 12 nautical miles.
Source: TASS
Source: Arabic RT
