Document Type
Blog Post
Publication Date
3-26-2024
Abstract
Tensions between the Greek and Turkish governments have soared over territorial claims in the Aegean, chiefly concerning the delimitation of territorial waters. The conflict arose on January 20th, 2021, when the Greek parliament nearly unanimously passed a law extending the breadth of Greece’s territorial waters in the Aegean Sea towards Turkey. While bilateral treaties exist between Turkey and Libya and between Greece and Egypt, each regulating the maritime zones of the contracting states, no such agreement exists between Greece and Turkey. “These agreements, however, have no legal effect on Greece and Turkey because international agreements must not harm nor benefit third-party states without their consent (pasta-tertiles-rule).” Greece justifies this expansion under Article 3 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which states that every state has the right to establish the breadth of its territorial sea up to a limit not exceeding 12 nautical miles measured from the coastal baselines. They interpret this to mean that this extension would begin from the Greek islands furthest east. On the other hand, Turkey argues that if a country is composed entirely of islands, these would give rise to areas of maritime jurisdiction, but that a continental country’s maritime jurisdiction should be based on the mainland, and not islands. The impact of such a Greek extension would deprive Turkey of one of the two coastal islands of the Aegean Sea, its rights to access the high seas from territorial waters, and the economic benefits derived from the Aegean. Ultimately, fueling Turkish concerns over a possible disproportionate increase in Greek-controlled space. Resolving this dispute is imperative for regional stability. Only the presence of an influential mediator can make strides for ultimate peace.
This post was originally published on the Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution website on March 26, 2024. The original post can be accessed via the Archived Link button above.
Recommended Citation
Tzanides, Lemonia, "Why Greco-Turkish Conflict Needs American Intervention: A Meaningful Mediator" (2024). CJCR Blog. 90.
https://larc.cardozo.yu.edu/cjcr-blog/90
