Türkiye rejects updated Greece's maritime spatial planning map on EU platform

ISTANBUL

Türkiye on Friday criticized the inclusion of an updated Greek maritime spatial planning (MSP) map on the European Commission’s MSP Platform, saying the map unlawfully overlaps with Turkish maritime jurisdiction areas in the Eastern Mediterranean and Aegean Sea.

Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Oncu Keceli said in a statement on US social media company X that Türkiye closely follows global efforts on maritime spatial planning, noting that Ankara announced its national MSP on April 16 and formally notified UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of it on June 12.

Keceli said the map uploaded to the EU platform, attributed to “competent Greek authorities,” tries to formalize maritime claims that contradict international law.

“It has been observed that the Greek MSP map, which violates Türkiye’s maritime jurisdiction areas in the Aegean Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean, has been updated on the European Commission’s MSP Platform website with reference to competent Greek authorities,” he said.

According to Keceli, Greece is trying to use the MSP process to push its controversial maritime claims through EU channels.

“It is understood that Greece, which continues to disregard the fundamental principles of international maritime law, is attempting to have the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) that it has not officially declared in the Eastern Mediterranean accepted through the EU by instrumentalizing the MSP map," he said. "Türkiye rejects this unlawful fait accompli attempt,”

Keceli told how Türkiye submitted its comprehensive legal position on the outer limits of its continental shelf in the Eastern Mediterranean to the UN back on March 18, 2020.

“In this regard, the so-called EEZ depicted in the Greek MSP map in the Eastern Mediterranean lies within the Turkish continental shelf,” he said.

He also underlined that any Greek effort to legitimize its EEZ claims – or the outer limits of its continental shelf, which Athens has not delimited with neighboring states – through such maps can in no way succeed.

“These attempts are doomed to fail and constitute unilateral steps contrary to international law,” he said.