The reasons why Turkey chose international waters for the placement of two Turkish “marine parks” were explained in a video posted on social media by Angelos Syrigos, New Democracy MP and Professor of International Relations. Specifically, he pointed out that practical navigation problems will arise, while analyzing why Ankara avoided bringing up the issue of the alleged “gray zones”.
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Syrigos: Confusion on Turkey’s part
“Turkish confusion appears with the proclamation of marine parks. Unlike Greece, which designated marine parks in territorial waters areas, Turkey chose to locate them in the open sea,” Mr. Syrigos noted in his analysis. He mentioned that the first park is located in the North Aegean, between Lemnos and Samothrace, west of Imbros, in an area of international waters.
It is noted that “many practical problems” are created by the second park located south of Kastellorizo, which excludes the entire maritime area except for its territorial waters, as he reports. At the same time, Mr. Syrigos emphasized that absolute freedom of the seas applies in international waters. No warship or coast guard vessel can stop any ship sailing through the area.
The reason Turkey doesn’t bring up the gray zones issue
“The map proves something else as well”. The Turks have tremendous difficulty mapping out the alleged gray zones of the approximately 200 Greek islands whose sovereignty they dispute on a map that will circulate internationally. At a time when they want to buy F-35s from America and claim participation in European defense, it would sound completely absurd to claim large and inhabited Greek islands,” added the professor of international relations and New Democracy MP, while noting that they were limited to areas of international waters in the North Aegean and south of Kastellorizo.
It should be remembered that marine parks are areas in the sea that are protected with a special legal status in order to preserve marine biodiversity, ecosystems and often the cultural heritage of an area.
Marine parks: Greece’s position
Regarding Greece, the Government has emphasized that the Parks are established based on strict environmental criteria, achieving spatial unity and consequently facilitating their integrated and substantial management. The area is treated in a unified way and provides the possibility of better regulation of permitted uses and activities. In National Marine Parks, trawling will be completely prohibited, while additional measures and restrictions are provided for the effective protection of the most vulnerable habitats and species.
