Ankara has returned to its familiar tactic of contesting Greece’s Search and Rescue (SAR) area of responsibility which coincides with the FIR of Athens, on the occasion of the attempt to rescue illegal immigrants in the recent tragic shipwreck off Rhodes.

While the Piraeus station had issued a lawful NOTAM early in the morning to launch a search and rescue operation, Turkey with its own NOTAM disputed Greek jurisdiction, even stating that the searches must be coordinated with Turkish authorities, thus causing confusion and complicating the operation.

The Turkish NOTAM stated, among other things, the following: “Regarding Greek NOTAM A4928/24, Turkey does not accept the definition of the Search and Rescue (SAR) area with reference to the Athens FIR. The area referred to in the Greek NOTAM is partly within Turkey’s Maritime Search and Rescue (SRR) area as declared to the IMO and included in the IMO’s global manual. Therefore, all SAR activities in the Turkish SRR must be coordinated with the relevant Turkish authorities.”

Significantly, the Greek NAVTEX was for searches within five miles of the wreck site, which was just 4.5 nautical miles east of the Rhodes coast, within Greek territorial waters. The Greek NAVTEX called for all assets in the area to coordinate with the Piraeus JRCC.

Turkey has consistently sought to unilaterally extend the Search and Rescue Responsibility Zone (SRR) to the middle of the Aegean Sea, trapping the Greek islands in zones of Turkish jurisdiction.

Following the intervention of the Turkish authorities, Athens issued another NOTAM which was a response to Turkey’s unacceptable attempt to exploit a human tragedy with refugees in order to reassert its disputes over Greek competences in the Aegean and the Eastern Aegean.

The Greek NOTAM said:

“The Turkish NOTAM is invalid as it refers to search and rescue activities within the Athens FIR where the only authority competent to publish NOTAM’s under ICAO provisions is the Civil Aviation. It should be noted that the Search and Rescue Area under Greek responsibility coincides with the Athens FIR as decided at the Regional Air Navigation Conferences in Istanbul (1950), Paris (1952) and Geneva (1958) which were adopted by all participating States including Turkey and ratified by unanimous decisions of the ICAO Council.

It is also registered with the IMO and complies with the IMO and ICAO recommendations for the alignment of search and rescue boundaries with the respective FIR. Furthermore, the JRCC Piraeus is the only competent authority that effectively and efficiently coordinates all SAR operations within the Greek SRR area. Finally, the area as described in the Greek NOTAM is located within Greek territory, Greek territorial waters and Greek National Airspace where Greece exercises sovereignty in accordance with International Law.

As in the past, the misinterpretation and misrepresentation of the letter and spirit of the International Instruments by the Turkish authorities regarding Greece’s responsibilities for Search and Rescue are rejected by Greece as they may lead to serious institutional and practical complications in the conduct of Search and Rescue operations.”