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The publication of the legal position of the State Department on the state not only of the airspace but also of the territorial waters of our country in the Aegean causes great concern in Athens, since in a particularly sensitive situation it generates false impressions about the non-existence consensus (agreed). .
The State Department had committed to submitting regular reports to Congress on violations of Greek airspace under legislation passed last year at the initiative of pro-Greek senator M. Menéndez, East Med Act. However, in the report it submitted in March, he not only stated that he “cannot formulate a list of confirmed violations of Greek airspace”, but also opens up a very dangerous but non-existent issue regarding maritime borders in the Aegean.
The American position, which does not recognize the Greek airspace at 10 nm but only at 6 pm reflecting territorial waters is known and has been made public for at least three decades. As a result, of course, the State Department does not consider violations that occur in the area between 6 pm and 10 am.
The report specifically states:
“Greece claims airspace that extends up to 10 nautical miles and territorial waters up to six nautical miles. Under international law, a country’s airspace coincides with its territorial waters. That is why the US recognizes airspace. up to 6 nm depending on territorial waters “Greece and the United States do not have the same opinion on the extent of Greek airspace”
However, not to mention the violations at all, the Report makes an extremely dangerous position, which is essentially identical to Turkey’s claims that there are no borders in the Aegean.
The report mentions features:
“Although Greece claims until 6 pm territorial waters in the Aegean, the country and its neighbors have not agreed to border demarcation in those areas where their legal maritime rights overlap. The absence of such demarcation means that there is no image clear on the area of Greek territorial waters and the corresponding airspace in these areas, making it impossible to assess any total violations. “The United States urges Greece and Turkey to resolve pending bilateral issues regarding their maritime borders peacefully and in accordance with international law “.
The competent services of the State Department seem to question the existence of clear maritime borders between Greece and Turkey in areas where the distance is less than 12 miles (6 + 6) and in other cases where there is overlap. But they are taking it a step further, as the Americans claim that if there is no demarcation agreement, “there is no clear picture about the area of Greek territorial waters and the corresponding airspace in these areas.”
With the “Report” reports, the Americans seem to question not only Greece’s position that where there is tightness, the middle line applies, regardless of the existence or not of an agreement (that in fact from Evros to the Dodecanese there was no agreement) the Italian-Turkish Agreement on the concession of the Dodecanese to Italy (Ankara on January 4, 1932), under which the Treaty of Paris (1947) granted Greece.
The Americans “forget” this Accord cover the Turkish theory that there are no agreed borders in the Aegean and the questioning of the “validity” of the Italo-Turkish agreement, which Ankara had invoked in the Imia episode to challenge Greek sovereignty and the Greek sovereignty. from the Aegean Sea.
The reaction of Athens was immediate, but “discreet” through diplomatic sources, since especially at this time with the liquidity that exists in Washington, it is not the right time to officially open up this issue. “Diplomatic sources” noted that “the borders of Greek territorial waters, as well as the maritime borders between Greece and Turkey have been clearly defined for years on the basis of conventional and customary international law and are not in dispute.”
Athens gave a detailed response to the American accusations:
“… As regards the Southeast Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean, the maritime borders have been defined by the Italy-Turkey Agreement signed in Ankara on January 4, 1932, as well as the acts that form an integral part of that agreement and signed in Ankara on December 28, 1932. Greece, as a successor state, under the Treaty of Paris of 1947, gained sovereignty over the Dodecanese without any change in maritime borders, as agreed between Italy and Turkey.
As for the maritime borders in Thrace (up to the point at a distance of three nautical miles from the Evros delta), they were defined by the Treaty of Lausanne of 1923 and the Protocol of Athens of 1926.
Finally, with regard to the maritime borders between the two mentioned areas (from Thrace to the Dodecanese), where the territorial waters of Greece and Turkey intersect, the maritime borders follow the median line between the Greek islands and islets and the Turkish coasts. opposite “.
Athens also recalled that “the external borders of Greece, including its territorial waters, which have been repeatedly captured, are at the same time external borders of the European Union.”
It is obvious that with discrete movements, Athens should explain to the State Department the wrong approach regarding the existence or non-existence of borders in the Aegean, because the documents of the competent Directorates remain and weigh and very often determine the formation of foreign policy. American. of the options of the respective political leaders.
