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  • 13-01-2021 18:51

EU/Presidency: Greece says right to expand territorial waters 'non-negotiable'


Lisbon, Jan. 13, 2021 (Lusa) - Greece's foreign minister, Nikos Dendias, said on Wednesday in Lisbon that his country's right to expand its territorial waters "is non-negotiable" and that Turkey must respect "international law" in regard to this.

"The Greek parliament considered that Greece has the sovereign right to expand its territorial waters from six to twelve miles and everywhere in southern Greece or in the Aegean Sea," Dendias said at a joint news conference with Portugal's minister, Augusto Santos Silva, at the end of a visit to Lisbon. "It is a sovereign right and non-negotiable: we do not have to negotiate with another country to expand our territorial waters."

Dendias had on Monday presented to Greece's parliament a bill relating to the country's continental shelf and Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) that foresees the expansion of its territorial waters from six to 12 nautical miles in the Ionian Sea. The bill obtained the support of most of the political forces sitting in the assembly.

In parliament, the minister also reiterated Greece's right to expand its territorial waters in the Aegean Sea, in the eastern Mediterranean, which has in recent months been the focus of tensions with neighbouring Turkey.

"We have expanded our territorial waters in the Ionian Sea without negotiating with our Italian friends or with our Albanian friends, who have also expanded their territorial waters," Dendias pointed out in response to questions from journalists. "We will not negotiate this measure with Turkey. And it is unacceptable that Turkey has issued a threat of war against us when we exercise a sovereign right under international law.

"In the twenty-first century it is unacceptable for one country to issue a threat of war against another country if the other country decides on its rights on the basis of international law," he added.

On Monday, Turkey's Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that the two countries, which are both members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, would on 25 January resume "exploratory discussions" in Istanbul aimed at resolving disputes in the eastern Mediterranean, an initiative that coincides with Portugal's presidency of the Council of the European Union, which began on 1 January.

Referring to the dispute, Santos Silva noted that the "sharing of views between the two countries" formed part of Portugal's agenda for the period, recalling that the European Council had in December decided that the EU's High Representative for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, was to report back to the European Council in March on the situation in the eastern Mediterranean, on Turkey's behaviour, and on options for forthcoming decisions.

"In the meantime there have been positive steps: the Turkish authorities have contacted the European Commission and some European leaders and expressed the wish for a more positive involvement in the bilateral agenda," said Santos Silva, who also called for a rapid calming of relations between the EU and Turkey.

"March marks the fifth anniversary of the 2016 agreement on migration and refugees between the EU and Turkey, and we hope that this anniversary will be the occasion to review our partnership in that dimension and develop mutual cooperation," he stressed.

However, he warned that one "sine qua non" was that Turkey respect international law.

"We may have conflicts, differences, differences, but we can secure an international agreement and try to overcome the differences by diplomatic means in accordance with international law", he said. "The Portuguese presidency will support all efforts of the European institutions to ensure a positive agenda with Turkey. This means that all parties must respect international law."

In December, EU leaders meeting in Brussels decided to impose sanctions after what they agreed had been "illegal and aggressive" actions taken by Turkey against Greece and Cyprus, two EU member states, in the eastern Mediterranean. The sanctions are targeted against individual persons or entities involved in the prospecting for gas deposits in maritime areas that are disputed with Greece and Cyprus, and which have for months been at the centre of tensions.

At Wednesday's meeting between the two foreign ministers, as well as bilateral relations and the European and international agenda and priorities of Portugal's EU Council presidency, they also discussed the issue of EU enlargement to take in countries in the western Balkans was also addressed. Dendias underscored the role that Greece can play, in particular with relation to the membership bids of its neighbours Northern Macedonia and Albania.

PCR/ARO // ARO.

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