Seas

John Psaropoulos joins Thanos Davelis to look at why Greece is now considering extending its territorial sea - as it's entitled to under international law - around the island of Crete despite Ankara's threats in the Aegean, and break down what such a move would mean for the region. We also explore the role of the US as Turkey ramps up tensions. 

Türkiye has warned Greece once again that it will never accept extending its territorial waters to more than 6 miles in the Aegean Sea amid reports that Athens is beginning to mull over increasing its sovereign waters to up to 12 miles off Crete island in the region.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is seen on Friday during an inspection of a military guard on Gavdos, off Crete, during a visit for the Epiphany celebrations. The Greek premier sent a strong message to Ankara from the Aegean island, saying that Greece will not be told how to assert its sovereign rights.

Norwegian-flagged Viking Sky, the first cruise ship of 2023 in Türkiye, has docked in the Aegean province of Aydın's Kuşadası district.

While some of the tourists disembarked from the ship docking at Ege Port, some took part in tours and visited historical sites such as the Ancient City of Ephesus and the House of the Virgin Mary.

A true gem on the edge of the Aegean Sea, where the Thracian Sea merges with streams and centuries-old plane trees

Turkish authorities have disabled a mine in the Black Sea, the Defense Ministry said on Oct. 19, in the fourth such incident since the start of the Ukraine war.

"A mine was detected off Kıyıköy... and has been secured and neutralized," the ministry tweeted.

The Marmara province of Kırklareli's Kıyıköy district is located less than 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the Bosphorus.

The Turkish State Meteorological Service has warned of torrential rains across Türkiye, including Istanbul for the weekend.

Thundery showers are expected in the Marmara, the inner parts of Aegean, the west of Central Anatolia, the inner sections and eastern parts of the Black Sea, and Eastern Anatolian regions.

Despite the growing tensions between Greece and Türkiye, the ports of Thessaloniki and İzmir were connected by ferry as of Oct. 12.

The maiden voyage was set from Thessaloniki to İzmir with "Smyrna di Levante," a vessel that is 160 meters in length and 23 meters in width and is owned by the Greek-based shipping company, Levante Ferries.

Ferry services between Türkiye's Aegean province of İzmir and the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki, a project on the table since 2011, will begin in September, a Greece-based ferry company has announced.

Athens-based company Levanta Ferries declared that a ferry named "Smyrna di Levante" would hold service once a week between the two sides of the Aegean.

It is supposed that summers in the Aegean should be "calm". This is imposed at least by the "Papoulias-Yilmaz memorandum" of 1988, but also by the practice followed by Greece and Turkey in previous years, with this "tradition" being disrupted from 2020 onwards.