If Greece expands its maritime borders in the Aegean Sea, this will be a cause of war, Turkish foreign affairs minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on Saturday (29 August).
The statement came just one day after EU member states decided to sanction Turkey in case Ankara does not withdraw its naval forces from the Eastern Mediterranean.
Greece is due to double its western territorial waters with Italy to 12 nautical miles, a right provided under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which Ankara has not signed up to.
Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis also left the door open for a similar move on the eastern side with Turkey.
The Greek islands in the Eastern Mediterranean are very close to Turkey’s continental territory
“In the Aegean, Greece cannot extend its borders to 12 miles. This is a cause of war (casus belli). We are not going to allow Greece to extend its territorial waters from 6 to 12 miles. I am being pretty clear,” Çavuşoğlu said.
Both Turkey and Greece are members of the NATO military alliance, which has so far prevented the arch-foes from engaging in military adventures.
The situation in the Eastern Mediterranean has escalated dangerously since major offshore gas drilling projects have taken shape. On 10 August, Turkey sent the Oruç Reis research vessel accompanied by warships into Greek waters, to which Greece responded by dispatching its own warships to track the Turkish vessels.
At an informal meeting of EU foreign minister in Berlin last week, EU member states agreed on a list of sanctions against Ankara in case Turkey does not de-escalate tensions in the region.
No comments:
Post a Comment