Greece has issued a strict announcement, rejecting a letter send by Turkey to the UN, which claims that its marine borders reach all the way to Egypt.
The letter was sent by the Permanent Representative of Turkey to the UN Feridun Sinirlioğlu on the 13th of December. In it, the Turkish diplomat claims that Turkey’s sea borders reach to Egypt through the Eastern Mediterranean, ignoring the rights of Cyprus, which Ankara does not recognise. Turkey’s argument is that the island of Kastellorizo does not have a continental shelf.
The Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded that ‘’under the UN’s Convention states that regardless of their size islands have sea zones just as land zones and have full sovereign rights. The delimitation of the continental shelf and EEZ between states in areas with adjacent nearby shores either on islands or on land must be carried out in accordance with International Law and based on its principles’’.
Furthermore, Athens stated that the claims in Turkey’s letter violate the International Law of the Sea and Greece rejects them, stressing that the claims have no legal influence when it comes to Greece’s rights.
