Greece and Turkey often get involved in disputes over certain islands in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. The two countries recently increased military activities over their maritime border! Athens has claimed that Turkey is encroaching on several islands, including Kos, Samos and Lesbos, in the Eastern Aegean Sea! According to the Government of Greece, Turkish fighter jets are often seen flying over those islands!
The Treaty of Lausanne (1922-23) determines the present borders of Greece and Turkey. The Treaty, which delimited the boundaries of Greece, Bulgaria and Turkey, specifically provisioned that all the islands, islets and other territories in the Aegean Sea (Eastern Mediterranean in the original text) beyond three miles from the Turkish shores were ceded to Greece, with the exception of Imbros, Tenedos and Rabbit Islands (Articles 6 and 12). Athens and Ankara also signed the Paris Peace Treaty in 1947. The Peace Treaty clearly mentioned that neither Greece nor Turkey could deploy troops to any island or archipelago under the control of one another. However, Ankara has claimed that Greece recently deployed troops on the western coast of Turkey!
Tensions between Greece and Turkey over the Aegean Sea are rooted in multiple factors. Notable among them are delimitation of continental maritime limits, demilitarisation of islands and airspace, and the dispute over the maritime boundary. The two countries have also been involved in disputes over mineral oil in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan reportedly refused to hold talks with Prime Minister of Greece Kyriakos Mitsotakis three years ago as Ankara and Athens did not agree on these issues. The Turkish President also threatened to declare a war against Greece, indirectly! Later, the Greek Foreign Minister told the Summit of Southeast European countries that Athens did not and would not issue disrespectful statements and take immoral actions towards its neighbours!
The Greek Navy has recently been accused of firing at a Turkish cargo ship near the island of Lesbos. According to Athens, movement of the ship was suspicious and the Turkish sailors refused to allow the Greek Naval officers to inspect the vessel. This particular region of the Aegean Sea is strategically important for international trade. Turkey depends heavily on this route for maritime trade with Europe. Meanwhile, Ankara has accused Greece of violating Turkish airspace, stating that the Greek Air Force recently intercepted Turkish aircraft with a Russian-made S-300 defence system. President Erdoğan has warned Greece, saying that blocking Turkish air traffic could worsen the situation. However, Greece has rejected the allegations made by Turkey.
In the wake of the Ankara-Athens conflict, the European Union (EU) has urged Turkey to behave friendly with its neighbours and to ensure peace in the region. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, too, has advised both Greece and Turkey to normalise the situation and to avoid conflict.
Interestingly, Turkey and Libya's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) plays a crucial role in this conflict. The EEZ is an area of the sea, usually a little more than 200 nautical miles or 370km beyond the territorial sea of a country. A coastal country has the right to use both living and non-living resources within this area. Incidentally, a Greek island is located in the EEZ between Turkey and Libya. Turkey and Libya signed a maritime agreement in November 2019 in order to use the natural resources of the Mediterranean Sea (from the southern coast of Turkey to the northeastern coast of Libya) together. However, Greece has claimed that the Turkey-Libya deal undermines its sovereignty in the region. Greece and Turkey have a number of islands in common waters. As per the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCOLS), the two countries should use the natural resources of those islands together. As Turkey is not a signatory of the UN Treaty, the World Body is unable to take action against Turkey for violating the maritime boundary of Greece through the EEZ (with Libya).
Furthermore, both Greece and Turkey are members of NATO. One of the conditions of this military alliance is that if two NATO countries declare war against each other, then the country that makes the first move shall be removed from the NATO list. The rest of member-countries shall come forward to rescue the other country. Neither Greece nor Turkey is yet to declare a war because of this condition.
A war between Greece and Turkey shall certainly affect the global trade, as well as the world economy, by disrupting trade through the important maritime route. It may be noted that Greece helped Turkey when massive earthquakes rocked the latter in 2022 and 2023. Similarly, Turkey sent medical equipment and other materials to Greece after a train accident on February 28, 2023. A head-on collision between two trains took place south of the Tempe Valley, about halfway between the Greek villages of Tempi and Evangelismos in the Thessaly region. The collision killed at least 57 people, as the two trains were carrying a total of 354 people.
The bilateral ties have deteriorated in the past one year.
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