ANKARA
The ongoing row between UK, Spain and Gibraltar has entered a new phase on Tuesday when Britain issued a formal diplomatic note in protest of Spanish authorities opened a “diplomatic” bag at Gibraltar–Spain border and Britain has called the incident “a serious infringement” of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
A UK foreign office spokesman said: "As far as we are concerned there is no justification for this infringement of the UK's rights under the Vienna Convention. Official correspondence and diplomatic bags are inviolable."
The formal diplomatic note of protest came less than a week after Britain summoned the Spanish ambassador in London following an incursion into Gibraltar's territorial waters by a Spanish state research vessel.
Named after its Muslim conqueror general Tariq ibn Ziyad as Jebel–i Tariq (Tariq’s Mountain) in 711–718 AD, world’s one of the most fought over parts, Gibraltar is still sitting at the center of a deepening crisis between the UK and Spain.
When a rather extraordinary dispute between two heavyweight members of the European Union, Spain and Britain, over some issues in and around Gibraltar – a British Overseas Territory – first sparked last summer, nobody probably thought this interstate quarrel, or what some called ‘storm over a cup of tea’ would continue for months.
Gibraltarian, British and Spanish governments, state organizations, EU and even UN had to get involved so far in the dispute since it first started with artificial reefs were thrown in the Mediterranean’s blue waters off Gibraltar coast in a bid to enrich underwater life, angering the Spanish fishermen who claimed the move would affect their fishing habits by blocking them.
Spaniards’ next move was imposing lengthy border checks that would only cause very long delays for thousands of tourists and those who live on either side of the border. Madrid also discussed a new border crossing fee and banning airliners using Spanish airspace to land in Gibraltar’s international airport.
The dispute then escalated with Spanish foreign minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo’s comments “party is over”, referring to Gibraltar as Spain thinks it is a smugglers’ nest and gangsters’ paradise with money laundering goes on in great scales.
Britain, on the other hand, challenged the extremely irksome checks by Spanish border authorities with a complaint at the related EU bodies but after an investigation, the EU cleared Spain, saying in a statement that it did “not find evidence” that Spain had infringed rules on border controls.
“We remain confident that the Spanish government has acted - and continues to act - unlawfully, through introducing disproportionate and politically motivated checks,” Great Britain’s Foreign Office said following the European Commission’s announcement, though.
European Commission also said it will continue monitoring the situation at the crossing point of La Línea de la Concepción and has asked to receive information from both authorities within six months on how the recommendations have been taken into consideration.
The overseas territory of Gibraltar, with a population of around 30,000, was ceded to Britain by Spain under the treaty of Utrecht in 1713.
In referendums held in 1967 and 2002, Gibraltarians widely rejected proposals for it to be governed by Madrid, but Spain continues to press its claims to the territory.
