Mitsotakis on Greece-Turkey ties: Right to extend territorial waters to 12 nautical miles is inalienable

Greece retains the “inalienable right” to extend its territorial waters to 12 nautical miles whenever and however it decides, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said at a press conference during the 90th Thessaloniki International Fair.

Mitsotakis said the Foreign Ministry’s diplomatic notes had made Greece’s position completely clear. He was responding to questions about recent Greek-Turkish tensions, including the creation of marine parks and Turkey’s legislative recognition of the “Blue Homeland” doctrine.

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Greece retains the inalienable right to extend its territorial waters to 12 nautical miles whenever and however it chooses.

He described the Athens Declaration as an institutional framework for organized dialogue with Turkey and said it was positive in principle that the two countries could communicate. At the same time, he pointed to what he called initiatives that no previous Greek government had had the courage to implement, including maritime spatial planning, marine parks, hydrocarbon exploration and the strengthening of Greece’s deterrence capabilities.

“We will not ask anyone’s permission for how we equip ourselves,” Mitsotakis said. He identified the delimitation of maritime zones in the Aegean and the eastern Mediterranean as the major difference with Turkey, adding that he would never enter discussions on issues raised by Ankara that the Greek state does not recognize as issues.

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We will not ask anyone’s permission for how we equip ourselves.