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Sat, May 26 2012
Greece lodges official complaint with Turkey about incursions
The Greek foreign ministry lodged an official complaint with Ankara on July 22 2010 in regard to the presence of two Turkish vessels in the Aegean in Greece’s continental shelf area, Greek media reported on July 23.
Two Turkish vessels, the Cesme and Piri Reis, which Turkey insists are marine research ships, have not entered Greek territorial waters but have sailed over areas in which Greece maintains oil and mineral rights, the report said. It is the first time since 1975 that two Turkish vessels have sailed over Greece’s continental shelf.
The initial reports surfaced two days earlier on July 21, when it was revealed that four Turkish fighter jets violated Greek air space flying over the small Aegean island of Agathonisi before Greek fighters scrambled and gave them a chase. Greek defence officials said it was the fourth such transgression by Turkish aircraft in three weeks, Greek media reported.
In a further Turkish incursion, a Turkish marine research ship ventured into Greece’s continental shelf area in the northern Aegean where Athens claims the rights for exploration and exploitation of potential mineral and fossil fuel deposits, Greek daily Kathimerni quoted the defence ministry as saying.
In March, another Turkish naval vessel crossed into Greek territorial waters, headed west and sailing almost to Athens, the Greek daily Ta Nea reported.
There have been more than 11such incursions of Turkish naval vessels since November 2009, according to Ta Nea.
Two Turkish vessels, the Cesme and Piri Reis, which Turkey insists are marine research ships, have not entered Greek territorial waters but have sailed over areas in which Greece maintains oil and mineral rights, the report said. It is the first time since 1975 that two Turkish vessels have sailed over Greece’s continental shelf.
The initial reports surfaced two days earlier on July 21, when it was revealed that four Turkish fighter jets violated Greek air space flying over the small Aegean island of Agathonisi before Greek fighters scrambled and gave them a chase. Greek defence officials said it was the fourth such transgression by Turkish aircraft in three weeks, Greek media reported.
In a further Turkish incursion, a Turkish marine research ship ventured into Greece’s continental shelf area in the northern Aegean where Athens claims the rights for exploration and exploitation of potential mineral and fossil fuel deposits, Greek daily Kathimerni quoted the defence ministry as saying.
In March, another Turkish naval vessel crossed into Greek territorial waters, headed west and sailing almost to Athens, the Greek daily Ta Nea reported.
There have been more than 11such incursions of Turkish naval vessels since November 2009, according to Ta Nea.
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The Sofia Echo
A bon entendeur salut!!!
The Greek position is that customary international law provides the country with exploration and exploitation rights over the continental shelf up to two hundred miles from its coastal and island baselines.
Greece cites both the 1958 Geneva Convention on the Continental Shelf and its successor, the 1982 Law of the Sea (LOS) Convention in support of their argument; two conventions in which Turkey incidentally did not participate. The jurisdiction over the continental shelf that Greece claims overlaps Turkey’s continental shelf. Due to this fact, the Greek view is that the demarcation line [...]
Read the full comment should be a median line equidistant from the relevant baselines.
Greece sought to resolve the issue legally through the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the UN Security Council, Turkey insisted on bilateral negotiations that would take place at the political level. Tensions remained high between the two countries, and were further escalated when Turkish oil freighters conducted exploration of the continental shelf region in both 1974 and 1976, and when Turkey invaded Cyprus.
UNCLOS III (United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea III) was attempting to resolve issues pertaining to the delimiting of continental shelves. Greece and Turkey were actively pressing arguments regarding situations involving their opposite coasts. Greece desired language that sought delimitation by agreements only, knowing that it would receive the continental shelf it was already claiming, unless a different agreement with Turkey occurred; an unlikely event. On the other side, the Turkish government emphasized principles of equity over equidistance, focusing once again on its “special circumstances” argument and determined to rely on negotiations for resolution. Ultimately, in 1982, UNCLOS III did nothing to resolve the arguments of the contending sides and continued to uphold Article I of the 1958 Geneva Convention, heavily emphasized in the Greek government’s view that their control of the continental shelf constituted an international law precedent. Article I states that a continental shelf be defined as
1.Seabed and subsoil of the submarine areas adjacent to the coast but outside the area of the territorial sea, to a depth of 200 metres or, beyond that limit, to where the depth of the superadjacent waters admits of the exploitation of the natural resources of the said areas;
2. the seabed and subsoil of similar submarine areas adjacent to the coasts of islands.
In supporting this principle, UNCLOS III, Article 121, provided that the “ ‘continental shelf of an island [is] determined in accordance with the provisions of this Convention applicable to other land territory.’”
CURRENT STATUS OF THE DISPUTE
Since the conclusion of UNCLOS III, disagreements and confrontations between Greece and Turkey over the continental shelf region in the Aegean Sea have continued. Several times the continental shelf issue has brought the two countries to the brink of war.
Bottom line is Turkey does not recognize the icj.
wow, it seems that there is already a anti-turkish community here, willing to proove their anti-turkish stance with each article they can get their hands on...
one must say that the rights over the continental shelf and the territorial waters is still an official international dispute between Greece and Turkey. Greece claims different miliage, and Turkey doesn't accept this. For both there is international legislature, so no one of them is in it's right beforehand!
and regarding Turkish agression, the way to express non-compliance with greek claims is acting by ignorance of [...]
Read the full comment these cliams. otherwise it is a fait accompli acc to int law! so, what seems agression for Greece, is regarded as answers to greek aggressive claims!
The territorial waters are 6 miles
at least wether you like or not
exept for straits or when the distance is less than 6 miles between two countries ,then the distance is split in half.
Check it out before uttering nonsense Mills.
This is ONE of the reasons why Turkey isn't allowed to be a EU Member !
Military violations provoking war !
@David
The EU is a club, not a union.
The US runs Eastern Europe like it's own back yard and the EU has nothing to say - just pay money for us.
I wish the EU was stronger...
If there reports are correct (and we must assume they are) then the Turkish incursions are not just into Greek water and air space but into the EU's as well. With a foreign ministry the EU should also be taking Turkey to task because this is not the actions one should expect from a country that wants to become an EU member - or do they???
Greece should do what Israel did to Turkey during the aid ship to Gazza
seems this Turkey needs some stuffing!
Dear John, "automatic right to overfly" does not exist. Free passage is safeguarded in international waters but there are rules. Enough with oversimplifications. What about the Law of the Sea? Enlighten us if you can. We have had enough with neo-zombies and patrons in the region. Peace is built on rules.
Turkey's stance is nationalistic and aggressive not only with regard to Greece but in all fronts.Turkey's arrogance is unbelievable an its time to change.
Turkish behaviour is deplorable and does not make sense to me.What's the sense to send your war planes over inhabited islands and to terrorize its citizens?This is bullying and bullying for me its completely unacceptable at any level.The fact that both of them are members of NATO does not mean that they stop being two sovereign states with different interests or that they should put the interests aside in favour of NATO.The solution must be full respect of international law and prevailing of common sense and good faith.
As memeber nations of NATO both Greece and Turkey have the automatic right to overfly or sail military vessels within each others territory. Perhaps either nation (or both) should withdraw from NATO. All ships military or civil have the right of free passage in the Agean or any other waterway to within 3 miles of the land - according to international maritime law. They are both like children.
Greece should be more agressive to the Turks then just making a phone call compliant to them.