The Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman has stressed that Greece’s newly published maritime spatial planning map infringes on Türkiye’s maritime jurisdiction and violates international law.
Öncü Keçeli, upon a question regarding the Greek maritime spatial planning map on the European Maritime Spatial Planning Platform, stressed that Türkiye is closely following the Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) studies carried out in line with the recommendations of the relevant U.N. bodies.
Keçeli underlined that Türkiye announced its national MSP in April and notified it to the UNESCO Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission in June 2025.
“The Greek MSP map, which violates Türkiye’s maritime jurisdiction areas in the Aegean Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean, has recently been updated with reference to the ‘competent Greek authorities’ on the website of the MSP Platform of the European Commission,” Keçeli said.
The spokesman stated that “Greece, which continues to disregard the fundamental principles of international maritime law, is attempting to have the Eastern Mediterranean exclusive economic zone (EEZ) — which it has not officially declared — validated through the EU by instrumentalizing the MSP map. Türkiye rejects this unlawful fait accompli attempt.”
Türkiye submitted its legal position regarding the outer limits of its continental shelf in the eastern Mediterranean to the U.N. on March 18, 2020.
“In this respect, the so-called EEZ depicted in the Greek MSP map lies within the Turkish continental shelf,” Keçeli said.
“Greece’s efforts to legitimize its positions on EEZ and the outer limits of its continental shelf — which it has not delimited with its neighbors — by inserting them into the MSP map are bound to fail and constitute unilateral steps contrary to international law," he added.
