21.11.2025 13:00
Turkey reacted strongly to Greece's attempt to impose a map that violates Turkish maritime jurisdiction areas in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean through the EU's Marine Spatial Planning Platform. Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Öncü Keçeli stated that Ankara rejects this "illegal fait accompli" and emphasized that Greece's efforts to legitimize its so-called EEZ through the EU would be in vain.
Turkey strongly reacted to Greece's attempt to impose a map that violates Turkish maritime jurisdiction areas in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean through the EU's Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) Platform. Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Öncü Keçeli stated, "We reject this unlawful fait accompli."
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Öncü Keçeli made strong statements regarding Greece's attempt to impose a map that violates Turkey's maritime jurisdiction areas through the European Union Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) Platform. In a statement on social media, Keçeli reminded that Turkey closely follows the MSP activities carried out in line with UN recommendations, noting that Turkey announced its national MSP on April 16, 2025, and reported it to the UNESCO Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission on June 12, 2025.
"GREECE IS TRYING TO LEGITIMIZE ITS EEZ THROUGH THE EU"
Emphasizing that the Greek map violating Turkey's maritime jurisdiction areas in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean has been updated with reference to "competent Greek authorities" on the EU Commission's MSP Platform website, Keçeli stated, "Greece is trying to impose its so-called EEZ, which it has not officially declared in the Eastern Mediterranean, by instrumentalizing the MSP map through the EU. Our country rejects this unlawful fait accompli."
"THESE EFFORTS WILL BE FRUITLESS"
Keçeli recalled that Turkey informed the UN of its position regarding the outer limits of its continental shelf in the Eastern Mediterranean on March 18, 2020, stating that the so-called EEZ shown by Greece on the map lies within Turkey's continental shelf. His statement highlighted: "Greece's efforts to legitimize its EEZ concept and the outer limits of its unbounded continental shelf by incorporating them into the MSP map are doomed to fail and are contrary to international law."
BACKGROUND: MARINE PARK TENSION
Turkey had declared two new Marine Protected Areas (MPA) in the Gökçeada offshore and the Fethiye–Kaş–Finike line in recent months following Greece's attempt to declare "two marine parks" in the Aegean. Greece, on the other hand, declared two marine parks in the Ionian and Aegean Seas on July 21, 2025, to which the Foreign Ministry responded with the following message: "It is not possible for the marine parks declared in the Aegean to have legal consequences. Unilateral actions should be avoided in closed or semi-closed seas."
The tension over maritime jurisdiction areas between Turkey and Greece has once again become a hot topic with Greece's MSP map initiative.