Greece has issued a sharp response to Turkey after Ankara challenged the legal implications of Athens’ new spatial planning framework for renewable energy projects and renewed claims concerning the sovereignty of geographical features in the Aegean.
In a statement on Thursday, Greece’s Foreign Ministry said the country’s sovereignty was “clearly and definitively established by international treaties” and could not be questioned.
The exchange followed a Turkish Foreign Ministry statement criticizing Greece’s new Special Spatial Planning Framework for Renewable Energy Sources, which recently entered into force and sets rules for the location of wind, solar and other renewable energy projects.
Ankara said the Greek framework could have no legal consequences for Turkey and referred to geographical features in the Aegean whose sovereignty, according to the Turkish position, was not transferred to Greece through international agreements.
Athens rejected the claims as unfounded and unacceptable.
“Greece’s sovereignty over the Aegean islands is clearly and definitively established by international treaties,” the Foreign Ministry said, adding that the issue was not open to questioning.
The Greek government also reiterated its longstanding position that the only dispute between Greece and Turkey concerns the delimitation of the continental shelf and exclusive economic zone.
The latest exchange is part of a series of diplomatic disputes between the two NATO allies in recent weeks involving maritime and spatial planning in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean.
Turkey challenges Greece’s sovereignty in the Aegean
Turkey recently objected to Greece’s tourism spatial planning framework, while Athens has also strongly criticized Ankara’s decision to establish two so-called national marine parks in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean. Greece said the Turkish decrees extended beyond Turkish territorial waters and into areas where Athens maintains sovereign rights, arguing that the move could not create legal facts or affect rights under international law.
The dispute over Greece’s renewable-energy planning framework reflects how longstanding disagreements between Athens and Ankara are increasingly resurfacing through issues involving environmental protection, tourism, maritime planning and energy development.
The Aegean has been a persistent source of tension between the two countries, with disagreements over maritime zones, territorial waters, airspace and the status of certain geographical features.
While Greece and Turkey have sought in recent years to maintain channels of communication and improve bilateral relations, the latest exchange shows that fundamental disagreements over sovereignty and maritime rights remain unresolved.
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