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Specifically, the Prime Minister said:
Today I announce to the national delegation that immediately, with a bill to be presented by the Government, Greece is expanding the coastal zone to the west from 6 to 12 nautical miles. Greece is growing. Others have said it, but we are the ones who put it into practice. “Thus, in a maritime zone, specifically that of the Ionian and Ionian Islands to Cape Tainaro in the Peloponnese, we exercise our undisputed sovereign right, in accordance with article 3 of the Convention on the Law of the Sea.”
Greek territory is expanding
In athens diplomatic sources argued that:
“With the decision of these 12 miles, the territory in which our country exercises sovereignty is significantly expanded, for the first time in many years. “It goes without saying that this expansion also involves the simultaneous expansion of upper airspace, as reported by diplomatic sources.”
The same sources added that:
It is observed that the expansion of territorial waters will be implemented with the approval of a law by Parliament, and will be preceded by the issuance of a Presidential Decree the bays will be closed and straight baselines will be drawn in the area, in application of the relevant provisions of the Convention on the Law of the Sea.
It is noted that the closure of the bays creates in specific areas based on the law of the sea “internal waters” where the sovereignty exercised by the country is equivalent to that exercised in its territory.
It is recalled that our country, like any country, exercises total sovereignty over its air space, its territorial waters, including its seabed and subsoil. However, it should be noted that the rule of “safe passage” of foreign vessels from territorial waters continues to apply, as defined by International Maritime Law.
Greek diplomatic sources also reported that:
“It is recalled that both Italy and Albania, both countries part of UNCLOS, have already expanded their territorial waters to 12 nautical miles. In addition, of the 168 states party to the Convention on the Law of the Sea, only 3” have not yet expanded their territorial waters completely to 12 nautical miles, while the countries that have not signed UNCLOS (USA, Turkey in various regions) have also expanded to 12 nautical miles. “
The limit in Tainaro
The extension of territorial waters to the west had been announced by the previous government, but had not progressed. But there was a difference. HE Nikos Kotzias included in the extension the Kythira and Antikythera. Now the Mitsotakis government has raised it Cape Tainaro as the eastern limit of the extent. For this difference he made a reference to his deuterology in Parliament o Alexis Tsipras. Specifically, the SYRIZA president said:
And, of course, when we proceeded, we announced it and then brought the issue up for debate in Parliament, responding – if I remember correctly – to a topical question from your Member of Parliament and we defended and announced this process that will proceed immediately after the European elections. And then you fell to eat us on the grounds that we exposed the Aegean.
That is, can we tell you today why does it go to Tainaro and not go a little further east, why does it not extend to the south of Crete at the same time, why does it not extend to the east of Crete at the same time? “
It is recalled that Mr. Tsipras from the podium of Parliament expressed support for the government’s decision for the expansion of territorial waters in the Ionian.
The political question
Where the limit for the expansion of territorial waters is established is a political question and not a technical one. Kythira and Antikythira belong to the Ionian Islands. Its western coasts “see” the Ionian, but its eastern coasts the Aegean. It is recalled that on June 8, 1995, the Turkish Grand National Assembly had declared casus belli (cause of war) the 12-mile extension of Greek territorial waters in the Aegean. When Mr. Kotzias made the relevant announcement in October 2018, the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Tsavousoglu had said:
“We want all the problems in the Aegean to be resolved peacefully. The Greeks know best that we will not allow an extension to 12 miles. Whenever Greece makes provocative statements, we give the right answers and put them in their place.” The Greeks they must think about how we can solve the problems. “
Two approaches
As Nikos Kotzias states in a Facebook post, the inclusion of Kythera and Antikythera in the expansion of territorial waters would cancel the to spy true:
“The first presidential decree that he had prepared included, together with the Ionian and southern Peloponnese, the islands of Kythira and Antikythira. Between the two, and between the second and Crete, two corridors were set up to guarantee international navigation. This measure refuted the argument that Greece immediately wants to turn the Aegean into a closed sea. Furthermore, it exposed Turkey and pressured it to effectively abandon its declarations of war (a subject I will not discuss in public). Therefore, the withdrawal , and I say it from now on, it would not be foreseen for these expansions in the two islands “.
However, according to another viewpoint, which appears to have prevailed, the inclusion of Kythera and Antikythera would further complicate an already extremely geopolitically complicated situation, and possibly give Turkey an opportunity to further escalate tensions, without strengthening to the Greeks. positions in the international diplomatic field. In any case, it would be a serious risk in times of crisis.
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