Turkey has strongly reacted to Greece’s updated maritime map published on the European Commission’s Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) platform, claiming it infringes on Turkish maritime rights in the Aegean Sea and Eastern Mediterranean.

Speaking on social media, Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oncu Keceli described the Greek map as an effort to impose an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) that Greece has not officially declared. He said, “It is clear that Greece, which continues to ignore the fundamental principles of international maritime law, is trying to enforce its EEZ through the EU by using the DMP map. Our country rejects this illegal fait accompli.”

Ketceli reminded that Turkey submitted its legal position on the outer limits of its continental shelf in the Eastern Mediterranean to the United Nations on March 18, 2020. According to him, the so-called Greek EEZ displayed on the MSP map falls within Turkey’s continental shelf.

He added that Greece’s attempts to legitimize its maritime claims and the outer limits of its continental shelf unilaterally, without agreement with neighboring countries, are contrary to international law and doomed to fail.

The updated Greek map on the EU MSP platform highlights areas in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean that Ankara asserts violate Turkish maritime jurisdiction. Turkey maintains that it closely monitors the MSP studies conducted under UN recommendations and rejects what it calls Greece’s unlawful attempt to gain EU recognition for its maritime claims.