Contested Waters: Turkey’s Maritime Disputes and Regional Implications
“Greek-Turkish relations since the time of Imia have been permanently bad” explained Honorary Greek Ambassador Nezeritis, on the Imia Crisis of 1996. Turkish Ambassador Oymen responded that “the Greeks continue to cause problems […]. Thus, new situations, and new problems between Turkey and Greece are created, which last quite a long time.” These two sentiments acutely embody the escalating tensions between the two countries in the present day over the Eastern Mediterranean. For Greece and Turkey, the Mediterranean has historically been a region of contention, especially since the discovery of hydrocarbon resources in the Eastern Mediterranean. At the heart of bilateral tensions between the two countries are historical and geopolitical disputes, many of which remain unresolved, and have fuelled persistent mistrust. In 1947, Turkey invaded northern Cyprus, following a coup by Greeks aiming to unify Cyprus with mainland Greece. Since then, Cyprus has remained divided with Turkish forces controlling the north and no settlement being reached. On top of this, Turkey contends that Greece’s maritime claims over its islands unfairly squeeze the country out of access to the sea. Greece, in turn, insists that its sovereignty is clear under international law.
The International Legal Framework on the Law of the Sea
To better understand these competing claims, it is essential to consider the international framework that provides the basis for them and supports Greece’s assertions of sovereignty. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) which entered into force in 1994 established a “comprehensive regime of law and order for the world’s oceans”. In essence, it promotes the peaceful use of the seas and regulates the management of their resources. To do so, it lays out clear rules governing the maritime claims that coastal states are entitled to make.
1) Territorial Waters
A state’s territorial waters span 12 nautical miles from its coastline, wherein the state has full sovereignty. While foreign ships can continue to transit in a state’s territorial sea the transit has to be continuous and peaceful.
2) Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs)
A coastal state may claim an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) extending up to 200 nautical miles from its baseline, wherein it holds sovereign rights to explore, conserve, and manage natural resources. This zone is often contested (as is the case for Turkey and Greece) and it defines a country’s economic control over valuable maritime resources.
3) Islands
Under Article 121 of UNCLOS, “islands generate their territorial sea, EEZ, and continental shelf the same as mainland territory”. To this an important distinction is added: the rocks which can not sustain human habitation or economic activity do not get an EEZ. This is specifically what is at the centre of maritime tensions between Greece and Turkey. Greece uses UNCLOS to support full EEZ rights for all its islands, while Turkey argues that Greek islands near its coast unfairly block Turkey’s maritime claims and rights.
The first instance when Greece and Turkey got close to open conflict over maritime disputes was in the Imia Crisis of 1996. In December 1995, a Turkish cargo ship ran aground on one of the Imia islets, but when Greece tried to assist, the ship’s captain refused claiming the islets were Turkish. The islets in question, “tiny uninhibited rocky islands in the Southwater Aegean Sea”, are located near both the Turkish coast and the Greek island of Kalymnos, making sovereignty over them highly contested. In January 1996, Greek and Turkish flags were raised and lowered on the islets and both countries’ national media added to already rising tensions. For Greek media, Turkey directly challenged Greek sovereignty, while Turkish media denounced Greece calling it an occupier and claiming the islets were rightfully Turkish. Even though the open fire was prevented, the Imia Crisis was marked by the loss of three crew members on a PN21 helicopter, Lieutenant Christodoulous, Karathanasis, Panagiotis Vlachakros. While Turkish authorities responded with regret at how far the disagreements between the two countries had gotten that led to the loss of lives, Ambassador Öymen stressed that “the crisis was not a Turkish initiative, we did not create the crisis and we tried to resolve it through diplomacy from day one”. He added, “Frankly speaking, I did not expect a full-scale war, because I was quite sure that the Greeks would realise that Turkey is determined”. According to Öymen the Imia dispute ultimately shifted from the Aegean Sea to the “diplomatic chessboard”.
Points of Contention on International Maritime Claims
What followed the dispute was a series of maritime deals Turkey signed with its regional neighbors to limit Greek influence in the Mediterranean. In 2019, Turkey signed the controversial Turkey-Libyan Maritime Deal with Libya’s Government of National Accord (GNA). In essence, the agreement delineated maritime boundaries between southern Turkey and northern Libya, but in doing so completely ignored the presence of Greek islands lying between them like Crete, Karpathos, and Rhodes. Greece condemned the agreement which it saw as a challenge to its maritime sovereignty cutting across what are considered Greek maritime zones. The deal was also rejected on an international level. According to the EU and the US, they saw the deal as a violation of “third-party” rights. Turkey justified the deal as an exercise of its maritime sovereignty over the region countering Greece’s efforts to “lock Turkey into a small coastal strip”.
Libya’s neighbour, Egypt also dismissed the deal as illegal and Greece said any such accord would be “geographically absurd”. Legally, the agreement treated the space between Turkey and Libya as effectively “empty water”, degrading Crete’s presence. However, in landmass and population Crete is huge making it unquestionably part of the Greek sovereign territory. Under UNCLOS, the island should thus generate its own full EEZ extending up to 200 nautical miles, which overlaps with the area covered in the Turkey-Libya Agreement. According to Egypt, ignoring Crete’s presence violated “both the spirit and letter of UNCLOS”. Egypt has also taken the opportunity to establish closer relations with Greece in the region. In May of 2025, Greece and Egypt signed a Strategic Partnership Agreement which aimed to “deepen political coordination and reinforce stability in the Eastern Mediterranean”. To this end, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis emphasized that “Greek-Egyptian relations hold significant potential” especially as the ties between the two nations are rooted in history and a “strong-forward looking partnership”. According to Mitsotakis: “In a time of increasing international uncertainty, our countries are pillars of stability with a shared perspective on major regional challenges.”
Turkey Submits New Maritime Claims
Most recently on June 17, 2025, Turkey submitted a newly drawn maritime map to UNESCO redefining much of the Mediterranean. Many of the maritime claims outlined in Turkey’s proposal directly conflicted with Greece’s maritime spatial plan which it filed weeks earlier. Greece’s territorial claims are firmly grounded in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which forms the cornerstone of its maritime policy. In contrast, Turkey, which is not a signatory of UNCLOS, advocated for a median line approach to maritime delimitation. This median line approach would draw new maritime boundaries between two states whose coasts are close to each other, drawing a “halfway line” between them. The issue is that these median lines would reduce the effect of small Greek islands on Greece’s maritime boundaries, limiting Greece’s claimed EEZ around its islands, all the while expanding Turkey’s share of the sea area and resource rights. It is specifically “this legal split that makes the new maritime map explosive”.
Due to the fact that Turkey is not a signatory to UNCLOS, there is no binding international mechanism to compel Turkey to accept Greece’s UNCLOS-based EEZ boundaries. With that being said, disputes between the two countries can still be resolved whether it be through bilateral negotiation, international arbitration, third-party mediation, or even deterrence and military campaigns. However, a lasting resolution can not solely rely on external mediation. It ultimately depends on the willingness of both countries to engage in good-faith dialogue and to cooperate meaningfully in redefining their respective maritime zones in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Bibliography
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