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Greek MEP Nikolas Farantouris warns that a planned Turkish law on maritime spatial planning in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean would mark a dangerous escalation of Ankara’s disputes with Greece, in an opinion piece published by Ta Nea on 15 May. Citing the article “Casus belli No 2 from Ankara” in the Athens daily, Farantouris argues that the move would violate international law by ignoring exclusive economic zone and continental shelf rights for Greek islands and would transform Turkey’s longstanding claims into a formal, binding domestic framework.
According to Farantouris, previous Turkish NAVTEX notices in contested waters, while provocative, remained temporary operational signals without creating legal titles or permanent rights under international law. He notes that the recent NAVTEX which effectively split the Aegean “down the middle” paved the way for the current legislative initiative, which he and fellow PASOK MEPs have already raised with the European Commission, requesting preventive measures and sanctions. NAVTEX, he stresses, should be a technical tool for navigation safety and exercise announcements, but in Turkish practice has turned into an instrument of political and strategic pressure in disputed maritime zones.
The opinion piece warns that adopting such a law in the Turkish Grand National Assembly would internalize Ankara’s maritime claims and could have at least four serious consequences, from making those claims a permanent state policy to opening the way for licenses to explore or exploit natural resources in contested areas. Farantouris underlines that, although domestic legislation cannot override international law or unilaterally create internationally recognized rights, it would harden Turkey’s stance, complicate diplomacy and legal dispute settlement, and increase risks for regional stability and energy security in the Eastern Mediterranean. He concludes that Athens’ underestimation of earlier NAVTEX episodes has contributed to this “much more dangerous” development and calls for urgent action to prevent the law from being passed.
Illustration: Perplexity