“Lessons” of the Kasos Chapter and subsequent challenges in the Greek EEZ

The chapter her Casso With the Italian ship Ievoli Relume, Turkey’s claims against our country are not only alive, but Ankara is trying to build large and important cable-stay projects in the Eastern Mediterranean. Exercising Greek sovereign rights not only on the potential continental shelf but also in the still limited Greek EEZ.

The crisis south of Kasos was averted by a “discovery” that was naive.

When ivoli relume is seen opposite Turkish warships He was forced to disclose that a small area outside Greek territory, within the defined EEZ, was obstructed and after Turkey warned through a NAVTEX publication that the area belonged to the “Turkish Continental Shelf” (based on the illegal Turkoliviko Memorandum). At 23.44 on Tuesday night the Turkish authorities were to issue NAVTEX with the coordinates of the search (which is also listed as a Turkish continental shelf) and the ship should conduct a further two hours of research in the area before returning to Heraklion.

Without, of course, trying to reach the end point of his planned investigations, southeast of Karpathos, outside Greek territorial waters.

Legally, proper “licensing” (especially for research in international waters) is no problem. NAVTEX version This is done by notifying the “competent” station of the coastal state, and in the case of the Italian vessel, this notification acknowledges their “competence” to the Greek and Turkish authorities.

Foreign Affairs Minister G. Gerapetritis reiterated from Parliament yesterday, “There is absolutely no backtracking. Permission has never been requested, permission cannot be requested, Turkey’s sovereign rights in the Kasos region have never been recognized, and this is not possible.

Over the past three days, cable laying surveys have been in full swing with two vessels, the Responder and the Ocean Vanguard, mainly in the area south of Crete.

The respondent carries out its activities with the Greek NAVTEX in an area south of Crete and has reached the limit of the Greek EEZ defined by the Maniadis Law (in the absence of sb delimitation, the outer limit of the Greek EEZ is considered. Middle line).

In the last 24 hours it has been moving, Libya has delayed the issuance of hydrocarbon exploration permits, claiming that it concerns the Libyan continental shelf. Sirte, but also based on an imaginary extension of the “demarcation” line of the Turkolivian memorandum.

The Libya It does not have the capacity to challenge the Greek EEZ and it is not known whether it went to the Greek ambassador in Libya as a matter of routine.

However, the movement between Ankara, Tripoli and Benghazi in recent weeks should not be underestimated, as General Haftar’s son Turkish Foreign Minister H. met with Fidan, with whom, as he said, energy cooperation was discussed by the two countries, but the statements of the Turkish Energy Minister Birkert reiterated the cooperation with Libya in the fields of land and sea areas.

Another research vessel, the Ocean Vanguard, moved south-east of Crete, on behalf of the Alexandria Station, to lay a submarine cable on the Greek continental shelf.

The design of the ship’s mission did not allow Turkey to raise issues again and repeat the Kazos episode.

Map for Ocean Vanguard Ship: The blue line shows the ship’s course, the black line the Turkish claimed NAVTEX area of ​​responsibility, and the red line the “demarcation” of the Turco-Libyan Memorandum.

The said ship moved into it Greek continental shelf And within that Greek EEZ It overlaps the Turko-Libyan Memorandum, but is far enough south of its “delimitation” point that it overlaps part of the Libyan EEZ and extends north of the “Blue Homeland” area of ​​”delimitation”.

Also, Ocean Vanguard moved into Greece and Egypt’s area of ​​responsibility for providing NAVTEX and was only a point away from the area claimed by Turkey for authority to provide NAVTEX.

As tasks that only overlook her most important work Electricity connection of Crete – Cyprus But the future of laying telecommunication cables and power lines Greece – Egypt And when political conditions in the Middle East permit, projects within the framework of IMEC, it is obvious that issues created by Turkish claims against our country will continue to emerge.

Because all these important and strategically important projects pass through the Eastern Mediterranean region, where there is a potential claim of the islands to the undefined Greek continental shelf and sea areas 12 nautical miles away. At the same time the unilateral and arbitrary “declaration” of Turkey’s EEZ which covers the entire Greek continental shelf.

Turkey’s trick now is to “gray” through a kind of “co-management” by legitimizing its own claims, if it cannot cancel its de facto acceptance of the demarcated Greek EEZ and its potential continental shelf. It is clear that both sides are fully maintaining their legal positions, as foreseen in the Declaration of Athens.

But the integration of this tactic, which has not been canceled in practice by Greece (e.g. Turkish NAVTEXs baptizing the Cyprus EEZ as “Turkey” as Cyprus does instead of Cyprus NAVTEX) creates a negative precedent. It will be raised in due course in bilateral negotiations and in the International Court of Justice.

This new situation requires a reshaping of the Greek response at the diplomatic and operational level. Especially if it is found that Turkey is trying to fulfill the trust even before the political consultations in the form of discussions to explore the main issue of delimitation of maritime zones.