Greece has the right to set maritime zones, says Greek UN represntative to Turkey

Greece officially responds to Turkish claims at UN of June 15

The representative of Greece’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations, Catherine Boura officially rejected the positions expressed by the Turkish government which dispute the right of Greece for the demarcation of maritime zones, i.e the sea-shelf and the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The Greek diplomat sent a letter accusing Turkey of using unfounded claims to deny Greek sovereign rights in the region of the eastern Mediterranean and its right to determine the delimitation with states sharing common sea borders. “Indeed, both the deceptive and erroneous implementation of the principle of equality as a rule that governs water demarcation, and coincidental and the uneven reading of international court jurisprudence concerning sea demarcation, aim at promoting those claims included in the June 15, 2016 letter”, Mrs. Boura underlines, responding to a letter by the Turkish authorities that doubted Greece’s prerogative to determine its maritime zones. The letter was presented to the UN on December 8 in reply to Turkish letter to the body on June 15. The Greek letter underlines that there was no international law that compelled countries to agree among themselves regarding semi-enclosed seas based on the principle of compliance to avoid harming the sovereign rights of the other interested parties.