ATHENS: Greece plans to extend its territorial waters further, including potentially in the Aegean Sea, Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis said on Friday, despite Turkiye’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.
