Ankara's latest move in the Aegean has shaken Greece's domestic political scene, after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan — through two Presidential Decrees signed on August 15 and published the following day in Turkey's Official Gazette — declared two "national marine parks" in particularly sensitive areas, the Athens daily Efimerida ton Syntakton reported on Monday.
According to Efimerida ton Syntakton (efsyn.gr), the decision triggered fierce reactions from opposition parties, which accuse the government of complacency and demand a more active diplomatic response to what they describe as Turkish provocation.
As the paper notes, the decrees provide for the creation of parks at two locations. The first extends across the area between Fethiye (Muğla province) and Kaş (Antalya province) — a siting that effectively encloses and cuts off the entire sea area around Kastellorizo. The second park covers a maritime zone near the Turkish coasts of Tekirdağ and Çanakkale, stretching geographically between Samothrace and Lemnos.
Athens' Response: "Illegal Establishment"
In a statement cited by Efimerida ton Syntakton, the Greek Foreign Ministry characterized the establishment of these parks as illegal insofar as they cover international waters, stressing that under the Law of the Sea no state has the right to unilaterally create marine protected areas outside its national jurisdiction. Athens also underlined that the Turkish parks are illegal to the extent they extend over the Greek continental shelf, and that the Turkish action therefore "produces absolutely no legal effect" — neither with regard to international waters nor to Greek sovereign rights on the continental shelf.
The ministry placed particular emphasis on the point that Turkey's unilateral designation of "national" marine parks in areas outside its jurisdiction cannot create faits accomplis or affect rights deriving from International Law. It contrasted the Turkish move with Greece's own initiative to establish National Marine Parks in the Ionian and the Aegean, noting that Greece proceeded in full compliance with the Law of the Sea and exclusively within Greek territorial waters.
Athens further warned that actions seeking to create faits accomplis or unilaterally affect the status of maritime zones in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean violate International Law and burden Greek-Turkish relations. Such moves, the ministry said, "do not contribute to consolidating a climate of good neighborliness and seriously undermine efforts to maintain relations of mutual understanding between the two countries." Greece, it concluded, will continue to act "with consistency and determination" to protect its sovereign rights, safeguard the freedoms of the high seas as provided by the Law of the Sea, and protect the marine environment in accordance with International Law.
PASOK: "An Adverse Scenario of Escalation"
PASOK was among the first parties to react. As Efimerida ton Syntakton reports, the party's competent sector heads, Dimitris Mantzos and Manolis Christodoulakis, called the Turkish move illegal and linked it to a broader effort by Ankara to establish new realities in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean. The two MPs argue the proclamation contravenes the International Law of the Sea by disregarding Greek sovereign rights and the maritime entitlements of the Greek islands, and also runs counter to the European framework for the protection of biodiversity and the marine environment.
A particular point of criticism concerns Greece's delay in maritime spatial planning. Mantzos and Christodoulakis argue that a process which should have been completed earlier only began to be implemented by the government in 2025, while gaps remain in the special spatial frameworks — a delay that, in their view, weakens the Greek position against Turkish moves. PASOK also tied the development to the planned legislative enshrinement of the "Blue Homeland" doctrine, spoke of "an adverse scenario of escalation," and called on the government to pursue "careful analysis and decisive action," exercise all rights deriving from International and European law, and internationalize the issue at the EU and the international community. The party's reference to the "calm waters" was pointed: these, it said, should mean mutual sincerity and respect for international law — not serve as "a pretext and a cover for Turkish revisionism."
Greek Left Coalition: "The Government Must Change Course"
The reaction of the Greek Left Coalition (ELAS) was equally harsh. According to the Efimerida ton Syntakton report, the party's Foreign Policy section called the proclamation of the two marine parks "an unacceptable and provocative act" that violates the Law of the Sea, since the parks also extend over parts of the Greek continental shelf. ELAS demanded that the Greek government react immediately, denounce Turkish revisionism, and highlight the consequences of the Turkish move both bilaterally and in EU–Turkey relations — including the possibility of imposing European sanctions.
The party directed its criticism straight at government policy, calling the rise in Turkish tension "tangible proof of the failure of the Mitsotakis foreign policy," arguing the government allowed Ankara to invoke the "calm waters" whenever it suits it and return to provocations once its goals are secured. Its demand was explicit: an "immediate change of course" on Greek-Turkish issues, use of European and international alliances, pressure on Turkey, and a restart of exploratory contacts on the basis of international law.
SYRIZA: "Announcements and Wishful Thinking"
Rena Dourou, head of SYRIZA's parliamentary group, spoke of yet another link in the chain of Turkish aggressiveness and connected Erdoğan's decision to the "Blue Homeland" doctrine. As Efimerida ton Syntakton notes, SYRIZA pointed out that one of the two parks encloses the sea area around Kastellorizo, while the second lies between Samothrace and Lemnos — a development that, according to Dourou, demonstrates the escalation of Turkish policy and raises questions about Greek strategy. Her criticism of the Greek Foreign Ministry's response was particularly sharp: she dismissed the government's announcements as "wishful thinking" that does not suffice to protect Greece's sovereign rights. SYRIZA also raised the issue of the Greece–Cyprus and Kasos electricity interconnection, arguing the government has not shaped a coherent national strategy toward Turkey, and linked the latest development to the prospect of legislative enshrinement of the Turkish "Blue Homeland" doctrine.
Communist Party: "Calm Waters" and "Imperialist Settlements"
The Communist Party of Greece (KKE) described the proclamation of the two parks as a "new Turkish provocation," arguing it serves as a reminder of the dangers to the country's sovereign rights and to the peoples from settlements promoted within the framework of the roadmap for the cohesion of NATO's war machine in the Southeastern Mediterranean. As reported by Efimerida ton Syntakton, the KKE detailed the two Turkish decisions — one concerning the northeastern Aegean between Lemnos and Samothrace, the other stretching from Fethiye to Kaş and enclosing the Kastellorizo sea area — and recalled that Greece itself had proclaimed two National Marine Parks in 2025. The party framed today's confrontation as part of a broader antagonism over the control of wealth-producing resources and trade routes, and included the government's "calm waters" rhetoric in the same context, arguing that the new Turkish move exposes the dangers that persist behind the image of de-escalation projected by the government.