Turkey‘s announcement of marine parks” in undefined areas outside Turkish territorial waters, a move that Turkey was quick to denounce as an “unacceptable, unilateral and illegal action that produces no legal effect against Greek sovereign rights”, the Greek foreign ministry.

Strongly recalling that the neighboring country made announcements regarding the designation of two marine protected areas following the relevant initiative of Greece, which was the first to move at the international level on the issue of marine parks, Vasilissis Sofias noted that the Turkish initiative “shows a complete lack of respect for the international law of the sea.”

On the contrary, “the Greek government is constantly and consistently acting to protect the rights of our homeland and the sustainability of our seas and recalls that reflexive actions of empty content put at stake the good neighborly relations between the two countries,” the MFA statement concludes, while even the Turkish press appears from annoyed to embarrassed regarding the fact that the Greek side retained the initiative of the moves, taking Ankara by surprise.

The Foreign Ministry’s statement:

Following Greece’s initiative to establish National Marine Parks in the Ionian and Aegean Seas, in areas under Greek sovereignty, Turkey today announced the designation of two marine protected areas in international waters of the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean as well.

The announcement of “marine parks” in undefined areas outside Turkish territorial waters constitutes an unacceptable, unilateral and illegal action that produces no legal effect against Greek sovereign rights and shows a complete lack of respect for the international law of the sea.

The Greek government is constantly and consistently acting to protect the rights of our homeland and the sustainability of our seas and recalls that reflexive actions of empty content put at stake the good neighbourly relations between the two countries.

New message from Mitsotakis

At the same time, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis sent a new message to Ankara in his interview with “Proto Thema”, saying that “I will continue to strengthen the Armed Forces. And a year from now we will have three state-of-the-art frigates”. “We have succeeded with Turkey and we have reversed the balance in the air and we have an important strategic advantage,” the prime minister continued, while commenting on the neighboring country’s desire to participate in the common European defense with the assistance of countries such as England, France and Germany that “the issue is not what our neighbors are doing. The issue is what we are doing. In terms of bilateral relations we can do less. In terms of the EU’s relations with Turkey we can do much more. And we have already done so.”

Specifically, Mitsotakis said that “Turkey will not make use of the cheap European loans, the SAFE program, if it does not show practical signs of improving its relations with Greece.” “I have said it, I repeat it now, if the casus belli is not taken off the table, if Turkey does not stop promoting the unsubstantiated theory of grey zones, it will not enter the European Union’s cheap loans program,” the Prime Minister concluded.

“Retaliation” after the surprise

Meanwhile, the Turkish press as a whole is translating Agkeria’s move to announce “marine parks” in undefined areas outside Turkish territorial waters as a “response” to Athens’ move to establish the first marine parks and while Turkey is steadily engaging in “unilateralism diplomacy”, wishing to maintain its lead in the “big chessboard” of the Southeastern Mediterranean.

Given that Athens anticipated the Turkish announcements, “Turkey is expanding its protected maritime zones in response to Greek marine parks,” TRT reported, noting that “Turkey had earlier expressed objections to Greece’s recent declaration of two new marine parks in the Ionian and Aegean Seas.”

For its part, the Daily Sabah reports that “Ankara announced on Saturday the designation of marine protection zones, reciprocating an earlier move by Athens to designate its marine protection parks in the Aegean Sea,” while linking the trilateral meeting between Italy, Turkey and Libya to bilateral relations between Greece and Turkey, describing how “the surprise summit, held far from the capital, focused on energy exploration in the Mediterranean, irregular migration and the political process to restore stability in Libya, issues of immediate importance to Greece”, in an attempt to balance the Greek surprise on the delimitation of marine parks.

The fact that Turkish officials “referred to recent developments in neighboring Greece, which announced two marine parks in the Ionian and Aegean Seas on July 21,” Hurriyet underlines in a related report, also highlighting Hurriyet, also referring to “fait accompli events in the Aegean” on the part of Greece, which “cannot affect Turkey’s legitimate rights and interests(sic),” according to the same sources.