Athens Draws the Line: Marine Parks Under Sovereign Rights, Not Up for Negotiation

Greece’s recent decision to establish two new marine parks — one in the Ionian Sea and another in the South Aegean — has triggered a predictable yet sharp reaction from Turkey, which once again brings into question well-established international treaties and Greece’s sovereign rights.

The initiative, announced by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in June and formalized this week, focuses on marine biodiversity, sustainable fishing, and environmental protection. However, Ankara interpreted it as a geopolitical maneuver and issued a statement through its Foreign Ministry warning that the move holds “no legal value,” while reviving the long-contested theory of “grey zones” in the Aegean.

In response, the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a firm statement, clarifying that “the exercise of sovereign rights is not subject to negotiation,” and that the legal status of the Aegean is definitively regulated by international agreements, including the Treaty of Lausanne (1923) and the Paris Peace Treaties (1947).

While Greece has carefully excluded from the marine parks any of the uninhabited islets disputed by Ankara in the past, the Turkish reaction appears to be less about the environment and more about maintaining its revisionist claims in the region.

Turkey now threatens to declare its own “marine protected areas,” underscoring once again how environmental policy becomes entangled with regional tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Source: pagenews.gr