Turkey and Greece: tug-of-war over marine parks?
A new bone of contention has arisen between neighbouring Greece and Turkey. After Greece designated two marine protected areas in the Ionian and Aegean Seas in July 2025, Turkey has now followed suit by establishing two marine protected areas of its own. Athens has protested that the Turkish protected areas extend beyond Turkish territorial waters and are aimed at partitioning the Aegean.
Legitimise control over territorial waters
In an article on the HuffPost Greece website, journalist Konstantinos Kousantas calls on Athens to take more resolute action:
“If Turkey's intention to grant domestic legal status to the 'Blue Homeland' doctrine in October goes ahead, a full-blown dispute over half of the Aegean Sea will break out, with unpredictable consequences, including a conflict between the executive branches of both countries. ... As long as our country delays extending its territorial waters from six to twelve nautical miles everywhere, it is missing out on a historic and unique opportunity to legitimise Greek sovereignty over 73 percent of the Greek Aegean.”
Not claims of sovereignty
Athens' outrage over the Turkish marine parks is exaggerated, former diplomat Hasan Göğüş expounds in Yetkin Report:
“It should be borne in mind that neither the publication of a maritime spatial planning map nor the designation of a marine park by a state in itself creates a zone of maritime sovereignty under public maritime law. However, by virtue of the area it covers, it grants the state the right to exercise sovereign authority through administrative and scientific measures. ... While the Greeks are urging calm and warning against stirring up the waters, they themselves are trying to stir up the seas.”