Fundamentals of East Mediterranean Maritime Zone Controversy (original) (raw)
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The Turkish Yearbook of International Relations, 2021
With the exploration of hydrocarbon reserves since the early 2000s, the Eastern Mediterranean has become the focus of attention of global and regional actors. Following the exploration of oil and gas resources, some littoral states signed maritime delimitation agreements. However, due to the fact that the region is geographically a narrow sea, the disputed maritime jurisdiction areas of the parties caused several political problems. One important aspect of the political disputes in the Eastern Mediterranean (Cyprus problem, Arab-Israeli conflict, etc) is related with the undecided maritime jurisdiction areas in the region. This dispute is between Greece, Turkey, Cyprus (North and South), Israel, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Lebanon and the UK in the Eastern Mediterranean. This problem has become more important with the offshore hydrocarbon explorations (oil and gas) carried out around Cyprus. In this context, this article will analyse the delimitation of the maritime areas in the region and the recent hydrocarbon exploration activities. It will mostly focus on the Turkish view about the delimitation of maritime jurisdiction areas in the Eastern Mediterranean in terms of principles of international law of the sea.
Cyprus and Turkey: The EEZ Delimitation Dispute in the Eastern Mediterranean - Part II
While sovereign rights for researching and developing the underwater resources belong to the entire island of Cyprus, not exclusively to Greek Cypriots, Turkey should foster a constructive dialogue whereby parties are able to invent options for mutual gains more easily and dismiss the assumption of a fixed pie. The sequencing strategy for coalition building should be Backward Mapping: Turkey should attract the needed decision makers such as the US, Russia, and Greece to itself, utilizing overall patterns of deference and influence. Turkey should accelerate proceedings of the bi-national working group with Greece – the only country that has diplomatic relations with Ankara at ambassador level among parties to the conflict – to explore opportunities for energy cooperation, re-iterate its commitment to multilateral negotiations in good faith for peaceful settlement in Cyprus, proclaim its own EEZ, and as a last resort consider to take the case for adjudication to the ICJ. With all its weight, Turkey should pursue criteria for legitimacy, continue hydrocarbon search on behalf of Northern Cyprus, and once again call for a freeze on Greek Cypriot hydrocarbon activities and re-launch of the peace talks.
Cyprus and Turkey: The EEZ Delimitation Dispute in the Eastern Mediterranean - Part I
Cyprus and Turkey are interdependent in a positive-sum game. The negotiation may proceed more productively when all that is explicitly sought is the generally obtainable goal of mutual advantage, instead of explicit pursuit of fairness and proportionality. All parties should keep the channels open for discussion to overcome frictions on long-entrenched opposing views on each other’s rights and avoid falling into the trap of “they are bad, we are good”. This would ensure maximum utilisation of opportunities for offshore gas exploitation in a limited time window by picking the most commercially viable option to reach energy consumer markets. The key guiding principle should be to avoid brinkmanship during the process and to draw Greek and Turkish Cypriots into a multilateral agreement with Turkey and Greece.
The Law and Geopolitics of Maritime Delimitation in the Eastern Mediterranean
2013
This paper will discuss the political and legal aspects of the maritime disputes in the Eastern Mediterranean and the factors relevant to their conciliation. The first part of the paper introduces the Mediterranean Sea and the relevance of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) regime in its basins. Subsequently, the author summarizes relevant historical cleavages in the Levant Basin, with a focus on relevant modern Lebanese-Israeli, Lebanese-Syrian and inter-Cypriot events. Part III will discuss the increasing interest in EEZ delimitation over the past decade due to hydrocarbon prospects in the Eastern Mediterranean and the geopolitical and maritime challenges that have since taken shape. Finally, based on the Law of the Sea and previous examples from around the world, the author discusses relevant legal avenues for achieving balanced solutions to maritime tensions in the region and presents the most relevant criteria in delimiting maritime boundaries.
ON THE LEGAL REGIME OF WATERS OFF THE DISPUTED TERRITORIES IN THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN
Italian Yearbook of International Law, 2022
This paper analyses how the legal status of the disputed territories of Northern Cyprus and the Gaza Strip affects the legal regime of waters off their coasts. For both situations, the analysis focuses on the following fundamental issues: the legal regime of maritime disputed territories; the maritime delimitation disputes between each disputed territory and States with opposite or adjacent coasts; and the legal regime of natural resources of the waters off the coasts of a disputed territory. In particular, the legal opinions expressed by Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and the State of Palestine are scrutinized, offering an assessment in the light of the relevant rules of the law of the sea and other pertinent rules of international law.
The Conflict Between Greece And Turkey In The Mediterranean Sea (International Maritime Law Study)
Jurnal Hukum, 2020
Turkey and Greece are again dragged into a new conflict in the East Mediterranean. Turkey and Greece vie for supremacy in the eastern Mediterranean. Turkey, for its part, indicated that Greece's claim to the territory would amount to a siege in the country by giving Greece a disproportionate amount of territory. This study aims to rethink the conflict between Greece and Turkey in the waters of the Mediterranean sea in the view of international maritime law. This study uses an empirical juridical approach. The Result of this research is Turkey does not ignore the Greece rights, Greece ignores the international law with its extended or excessive maritime claims. Greece tries to give full entitlement of the islands in Mediterranean and Agean. Whereas the effect Formula is applied by international courts.
The 1982 United Nations' Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) is the main document of international law, which regulates the various issues concerning the establishment of an Exclusive Economic Zone (ΕΕΖ). Maritime delimitation issues, including among them the delimitation of EEZs, have either been settled out by states' agreements or by the jurisdiction of the relevant international tribunals. In that context, the aim of this paper is to analyze the prospect of delimitation of a Greek EEZ based on the contemporary conventional and customary international sea law, but also, based on the contemporary judicial decisions case-studies. Hence, our analysis focuses on the maritime dispute issues in the region of the Aegean Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean between Greece and its neighboring country Turkey, concerning the delimitation of the EEZ / Continental Shelf. In this context, it is attempted to critically compare the case of Greece and Turkey to the outcome of recent relevant judicial decisions of the competent international courts, by highlighting common points but also differences and complexities. The main purpose of that is to render the reader aware of the special treatment needed for the case in question with the expectation for a fair future delimitation of the Greek EEZ.
The Legal and Political Aspects of the Eastern Mediterranean: What is at Stake?
2021
The main challenge in relation to Mediterranean gas is the distribution of potential gas reserves which inevitably entails delimitation of maritime borders. However, in the context of the Eastern Mediterranean, this is highly problematic mainly due to the status of the Greek islands along with their close proximity to the Turkish mainland and the failure in resolving the ‘Cyprus issue.’ There are two key questions in relation to the Eastern Mediterranean crisis: (i) What are the contesting claims over maritime border delimitation between Turkey, Greece, and the Greek Administration of Southern Cyprus with reference to the international law? (ii) Why has the Eastern Mediterranean dispute been politicized so much that it has drawn in countries far from the region? This article examines the legal and political dimensions of the Eastern Mediterranean crisis by analyzing the respective countries’ standpoints through the lens of international law along with the implications of earlier suc...
2020
In recent years, the Eastern Mediterranean hydrocarbon discoveries is one of the hot topic. Related to it, maritime jurisdiction area disputes have occurred in the region. The most important one is the Turkey-Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) and Greek Cypriot State (GCA) dispute. Turkey, made an agreement with Libya on November, 2019 against ongoing dispute and unlawful activities. As a result of it, Turkey and Libya became coastal neighbors, and two littoral states. Agreement has strong impact on entire political and economic situation in the Eastern Mediterranean, particularly, regional and global actors competition on energy resources. Agreement will definitely change proxy war balances which is conducted by global actors such as the USA, Russia and the European Union (EU). The ongoing civil war in Libya is the active and passive component of this agreement. Regional and global actors reacted very sharply to the agreement because of their interest and plans about region are deteriorated. In this study, the impact of the agreement on Eastern Mediterranean hydrocarbon activities, regional and global actors, Libyan Civil War, Eastmed Pipeline project and the Turkey-TRNC-GCA dispute are evaluated. Agreement's legality is analyzed accompanying with Libya's political situation and diplomatic relations with Turkey. Finally, Turkey's important role and place in the Eastern Mediterranean is considered to explain the importance of the agreement.