GreekNewsOnDemand.com comments: It is a national obligation of the current Greek government to increase the 6 nautical miles to 12 nm of Greece’s territorial waters in the Aegean Sea. This is prescribed and imposed by International Law on the basis of the Montego Bay Law of the Seas Agreements of 1982 which many other nations signed off on and constantly invoke, regardless of whether the USA, Turkey and three other countries have not signed it since they are also obliged to accept it. Greece can VERY WELL do this; it can extend it’s territorial waters to nautical miles to 12 out into the Aegean Sea on the basis of this aforesaid Agreement; it has not done this yet, though, because Turkey threatens it with war if it does because Turkey wants part of…GREECE’s AEGEAN!
The “Montego Bay Law of the Seas Agreement” refers to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), signed in Montego Bay, Jamaica, on December 10, 1982, often called the “constitution for the oceans”. It’s a comprehensive treaty establishing a legal framework for all ocean uses, defining maritime zones (like territorial seas, EEZs), navigational rights, resource management (especially seabed minerals as “common heritage”), marine environmental protection, and dispute settlement, with related agreements like the 1994 Part XI Agreement to address implementation issues.
Read now the following from Reuters!!!….
Jan 16 (Reuters) – Greece plans to extend its territorial waters further, including potentially in the Aegean Sea, Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis said on Friday, despite Turkey’s long-standing threat of war should Athens take such a step.
The NATO allies, but historic rivals, have eased tensions in recent years but remain at odds over where their continental shelves begin and end in the Aegean – an area believed to hold significant energy potential and with implications for overflights and airspace.
Greece has already extended its territorial waters in the Ionian Sea to 12 nautical miles from six, following agreements with Italy, and it has signed a maritime delimitation deal with Egypt in the eastern Mediterranean.
But it has avoided similar moves in the Aegean, where Ankara objected sharply.
In 1995, the Turkish parliament declared a “casus belli”, or cause for war, if Greece unilaterally extended its waters beyond six nautical miles in the Aegean, a position Athens says violates international maritime law.
Answering questions in parliament on Friday, Gerapetritis said further expansion was expected.
“Today, our sovereignty in the Aegean Sea extends to six nautical miles,” Gerapetritis said. “As there was an agreement with Egypt, as there was an agreement with Italy, there will also be a (further) extension of the territorial waters.”
He didn’t specify which maritime areas could be extended.
Turkey’s Foreign Ministry was not immediately available for comment.
In July, Greece took another step by unveiling the boundaries of two planned marine parks in the Ionian and Aegean seas. The Aegean park, covering 9,500 square kilometres (3,668 square miles), would initially expand around the southern Cyclades islands, further south of Turkey, according to the maps submitted by Athens. The announcement has drawn objections from Ankara.
Greece says the only issue it is prepared to discuss with Turkey is the demarcation of their maritime zones, including the continental shelf and an exclusive economic zone.Reporting by Antonis Pothitos. Aditional reporting Huseyin Hayatsever. Editing by Angeliki Koutantou and Mark Potter.
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