Turkey has reacted to Greece’s updated marine spatial planning (MSP) map on the EU MSP Platform website, calling it a “unilateral” move in violation of international law. In a statement on Friday, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oncu Keceli said the Greek map “violates Turkey’s maritime jurisdiction areas in the Aegean Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean.”
“It appears that Greece, which continues to disregard fundamental principles of international maritime law, is attempting to use the MSP map to gain EU recognition of an exclusive economic zone in the Eastern Mediterranean that it has not officially declared,” Keceli said. “Our country rejects this unlawful fait accompli.”
He added: “Greece’s attempts to legitimize these EEZ claims and to depict on the MSP map the outer limits of a continental shelf it has not delimited with its neighbors are unilateral actions that are doomed to fail and contrary to international law.”
MSP is used to manage human activities in maritime areas, including tourism, offshore energy drilling, fishing, and environmental protection. There has been no official response from the Greek side.