“The issuance of an irregular notice by Turkey is part of a broader tactic of abusing the NAVTEX service to project its unfounded claims in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean to the international audience. This takes place at the expense of the proper functioning of the system and, by extension, maritime safety.”

Government sources make these points in response, in essence, to the open-ended NAVTEX being issued by Ankara, which further claims that all research activities in the Aegean “within its maritime jurisdiction areas must be carried out in coordination with Turkey.” At the same time, Ankara revives the narrative of the demilitarization of islands and speaks of unilateral actions by Greece and initiatives that allegedly ignore Turkey’s rights and interests.

Continuing on the same issue, Greek government officials note that “NAVTEX are a technical tool issued for a specific purpose, such as a military exercise that may pose a risk to navigation. Under International Law, a NAVTEX that covers a vast area for a long period of time without being linked to a specific event is inconceivable. For this reason, the Turkish NAVTEX is absolutely illegal and has no legal basis whatsoever.”

On this matter, beyond formal protests, Greece has also submitted a report to the chair of the competent International Maritime Organization (IMO) committee responsible for global maritime safety. Moreover, the European Commission’s 2024 report on Turkey explicitly recorded this practice as illegal. “It goes without saying that Greece will continue to exercise its sovereign rights and will not be deterred by such impulsive and unlawful actions,” the same sources conclude.

What the Turkish Ministry of Defense claimed

Earlier, Turkey’s Ministry of Defense had stated that Turkish NAVTEX concerning “Greek activities in the Aegean that violate International Law are published and remain in force indefinitely, not for two years,” in response to reports in Greece about two NAVTEX allegedly valid until 2027.

According to the Turkish Ministry of Defense, the published NAVTEX emphasize that “all research activities within our maritime jurisdiction areas, including those covering the continental shelf in the Aegean Sea, must be coordinated with our country, taking maritime safety into account.”

It also stressed that “the conduct of military activities that could endanger maritime safety in areas including the territorial waters of Non-Militarized Status Islands runs counter to international agreements.”

The Turkish Ministry of Defense concluded with a warning that “the Turkish Armed Forces will continue to neutralize unilateral activities and initiatives that ignore the rights and interests of our country arising from its maritime jurisdiction areas, within the framework of international law.”

Ankara challenges sovereign rights

This statement is accurate insofar as the impression was mistakenly created in Athens that it was unprecedented and a major provocation for the two NAVTEX to be valid until 2027. In fact, all NAVTEX of a declaratory nature referring to Turkey’s standing disputes—such as the continental shelf, demilitarization, search and rescue, control of irregular migration, and challenges to areas of responsibility for issuing NAVTEX—are renewed weekly without a time limit. There are also NAVTEX concerning Greece and Cyprus that are formally set to be repeated at least until 2030, as well as others that have been republished on a weekly basis since 2017 and 2018.

In practice, the positions expressed in these NAVTEX are provocative in and of themselves, as they challenge critical sovereign rights and competences of Greece. It is not their duration that makes them provocative, but the fact that they reflect Turkey’s longstanding, declared positions.