The legislation being drafted by Turkey to formalize its claims over the seas surrounding it has not been published. All the information we have about it comes exclusively from controlled and clearly selective leaks to the media. Its key points appear to be the following:
a) Turkey is surrounded by open and semi-enclosed seas, which are governed by entirely different rules from those that apply to oceans. In these seas, the Greek islands and Cyprus (which is also an island) lose their rights to a continental shelf and an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) because they lie at a distance of up to 200 nautical miles from the Turkish mainland. Therefore, the sea border between Greece and Turkey runs down the middle of the Aegean Sea, serving as the dividing line between the rights of the Greek and Turkish mainlands. The Greek islands east of that line are covered by the continental shelf and EEZ of the Turkish continental coast, meaning that they lie within Turkey’s “maritime territory.” This is the crux of Turkey’s “Blue Homeland” (Mavi Vatan) doctrine.
b) Apart from territorial waters, the continental shelf and the EEZ, the legislation also refers to a “contiguous zone.” This is a maritime zone that begins where territorial waters end and extends up to 24 nautical miles from the shore. Within that zone, a state prevents and punishes violations of its customs, immigration, or public health laws committed within its territory. What Turkey is attempting, in effect, is to preclude the possibility of Greece declaring a “contiguous zone” of its own rather than extending its territorial waters in the Aegean.
