Even the shipwreck off Chios was exploited by Ankara to escalate tensions in the Aegean by issuing counter-NOTAMs, claiming that the search operations initiated by Greece with NOTAMs in the shipwreck area partially fall within Turkey’s maritime search and rescue zone.
In this way, Turkey once again demonstrated its intentions, which are none other than demanding that Greece coordinate with Turkish authorities for anything that happens in the Aegean. All this comes just days before the anticipated meeting between Mitsotakis and Erdogan in Ankara.
“Turkey uses NOTAMs as a tool – We must denounce these practices to all international organizations”
International affairs expert and analyst Thrasyvoulis Eftychidis argues on parapolitika.gr that issuing NOTAMs is Turkey’s standard practice. On Wednesday, besides the one concerning rescue procedures at Chios, Turkey had issued another earlier for the exercise taking place at Karpathos. As the international relations expert notes: “Turkey uses NOTAMs as a tool, which are essentially advance notices for mariners or aviation. Turkey has weaponized them, essentially declaring its presence in the Aegean region. NOTAMs as tools do not produce legal effects, but in any case what Turkey is doing is mapping out its claims. That is, it claims half the Aegean from Greece as a search and rescue area, not only east of Chios where the operation took place, but also west. It claims the area, claims the airspace, challenges Athens FIR. Naturally, the process involves Turkey issuing permanent NOTAMs and our side canceling them.
Turkey uses various types of NOTAMs and when we issue NOTAMs to mariners or aviation, Turkey often enters the process of issuing counter-NOTAMs saying that ours are invalid because it’s their maritime space or their airspace. All these, therefore, are Turkey’s standard tactics to which we should give immediate responses, and also denounce these practices to all international organizations, something we don’t do. All this creates problems about which both the European Union and NATO allies as well as the UN should have been informed”.
This Turkish tactic of increasing its claims in the Aegean raises concerns ahead of the meeting between the two leaders in Ankara, likely next week. According to Mr. Eftychidis, perhaps this meeting should not take place. “I don’t know why, when you have such practices from the other side, you insist on legitimizing them by meeting with them. Turkey is currently putting forward issues to which there will be no answer. That’s what Turkey does. Demilitarization of islands, challenging half the Aegean, challenging the search and rescue area. All maximalist Turkish claims are put on the table, while we go as is known with the one and only issue which we don’t even dare – although extending our territorial waters is our sovereign right – to implement. We don’t dare to lay the cable at Kasos yet. Despite proclamations and grandiose statements, we don’t have the cable returning to its position. Therefore, we understand that there’s no point in talking with Turkey, there’s no point in supporting Turkey in the European Union. We should pressure with whatever means we have to cancel funding to Turkey. We cannot talk about Customs Union or European Union-Turkey conditions when Turkey behaves this way”.
