Law of the sea

The foreign ministers of the European Union condemned on Friday the violation of Greek airspace and territorial waters by Turkey and Ankara's drilling plans in Cyprus' exclusive economic zone (EEZ) during a teleconference.

The Foreign Affairs ministers of Greece, Cyprus, Egypt, France and the United Arab Emirates called on Turkey to «fully respect the sovereignty and sovereign rights of all states in their marine zones in the East Mediterranean,» during a teleconference on Monday.

The energy companies Total of France and Eni of Italy have followed the example of ExxonMobil and suspended their planned drilling activities in Cyprus's exclusive economic zone this year due to concerns about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, Kathimerini Cyprus has learned. 

Athens on Wednesday reacted strongly to the submission last week to the United Nations by Turkey's permanent representative to the UN, Feridun Sinirlioglu, of a letter that contained geographical coordinates based on the contentious maritime boundaries accord signed between Ankara and Libya's Tripoli-based government in November, ignoring the existence of Greek islands.

The EU has extended sanctions against Turkey for its drilling operations in the exclusive economic zone of the Republic of Cyprus. This is stated in the Official Journal of the EU, which published the relevant regulations, reports TASS.

Athens rejects Turkish claims set out in the maritime borders agreement signed last year between Ankara and the Tripoli-based government in Libya "in their entirety," Greece's permanent representative to the United Nations, Maria Theofili, said in a recent letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

In a letter to the United Nations, Greece has protested against Turkey's "unsubstantiated and legally unfounded claims" in the Eastern Mediterannean saying that they shun "the legitimate sovereign rights of Greece and of other neighboring countries" in the same maritime area.

Even as Turkey is escalating its aggressive acts in the Eastern Mediterranean, Cyprus' EEZ, Libya, and the Aegean, Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias declared after a meeting today of the National Council on Foreign Policy that there is a consensus between the government and opposition parties on the management of crucial national issues and in particular Greek-Turkish tensions and the protection o

Commenting on the contentious agreement on maritime boundaries signed between Turkey and Libya's internationally-recognized government, US Ambassador to Greece, Geoffrey Pyatt said, in an interview published on Saturday, that Greek islands are on the same footing as the mainland when it comes to continental shelf and an exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

Turkey has announce plans to begin gas and oil exploration in a maritime area reaching from the Greek island of Kastelorizo to Libya, with which Ankara has in November, 2019, signed an accord that delimits their putative Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs, though they are not contiguous) by expropriating a huge chunk of Greece's EEZ, particularly around Crete.