Unfair Claims of Greece over Crete and Rhodes

The Maritime Jurisdiction Areas Delimitation Agreement concluded between the Hellenic Republic and the Arab Republic of Egypt on 6 August 2020 (in other words, a bilateral EEZ declaration) is contrary to, and violates, the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, to which Greece itself is a state party.

First of all, it should be noted that Article 7 of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea states that "in localities where the coastline is deeply indented and cut into, or if there is a fringe of islands along the coast in its immediate vicinity, the method of straight baselines joining appropriate points may be employed in drawing the baseline." This provision is compatible with the character of the Aegean Sea. However, when Greece draws its territorial waters by extending the "Straight Baselines" method to include the islands of Crete and Rhodes, Türkiye loses maritime area in most of the blue zones shown below. Yet paragraph 3 of Article 7 of the Convention makes the drawing of "Straight Baselines" subject to the following condition: "The drawing of straight baselines must not depart to any appreciable extent from the general direction of the coast, and the sea areas lying within the lines must be sufficiently closely linked to the land domain to be subject to the regime of internal waters."

Looking at the map above, it is clear that an attempt is being made to impose the 2003 Seville Map, and that the Seville Map was drawn by extending the "Straight Baselines" method to Crete and Rhodes. The island of Crete is 51 nautical miles from mainland Greece and Rhodes is 186 nautical miles from mainland Greece; in other words, they lie at distances of less than the 200 nautical miles recognized by the Convention for the EEZ, and, as seen on the map, they do not complete the coastline and depart substantially from the general direction of the coast.

Moreover, with reference to Article 46 of the 1982 UNCLOS, Greece cannot be defined as an "Archipelago State", because the article states that an archipelagic state must consist "wholly" of one or more islands, whereas Greece is a peninsular state. While states such as the Bahamas, Fiji, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and the Philippines are recognized as "Archipelago States", Greece is not in this group. For this reason, drawing "Straight Baselines" around its islands such as Skyros, Crete and Rhodes is a clear violation of the law of the sea.

The 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea makes the drawing of "Straight Baselines" subject to the following principles:

• Straight baselines shall not depart to any appreciable extent from the general direction of the coast, and the area between them and the land must be sufficiently closely linked to the land to qualify as internal waters.
• Except in special circumstances, straight baselines shall not be drawn to and from low-tide elevations.
• Where the use of straight baselines brings waters that were not previously considered internal waters under the regime of internal waters, the coastal state shall continue to grant other states the right of innocent passage in those waters.
• Straight baselines may not be applied in such a manner as to cut off the territorial sea of another state from the high seas or an EEZ.

 

Different examples from around the world of "Normal Baseline" and "Straight Baseline" drawings are listed below:

 

Above are "Baseline" drawings decided by the International Court of Justice and the Permanent Court of Arbitration in which fringes/groups of islands located at distances of 200 nautical miles or less were accepted.

For the 1999 Eritrea - Yemen "Dahlak" example, see:

https://legal.un.org/riaa/cases/vol_XXII/335-410.pdf

For the 2012 Nicaragua - Colombia "Miskitos" example, see:

https://www.icj-cij.org/files/case-related/124/124-20121119-JUD-01-00-EN.pdf

Likewise, there are "Baseline" drawings decided by the International Court of Justice and the Permanent Court of Arbitration in which fringes/groups of islands located at distances of 200 nautical miles or less were not accepted. In this context, the island of Skyros is 19.3 nautical miles from mainland Greece, Crete is 50.6 nautical miles away and Rhodes is 186.4 nautical miles away, and none of them lies along the general direction of the Greek mainland coast.

 

For the 1985 Libya - Malta "Filfla Island" example, see:

https://www.icj-cij.org/files/case-related/68/068-19850603-JUD-01-00-EN.pdf

For the 1999 Eritrea - Yemen "Zuqar-Hanish Islands" example, see:

https://pca-cpa.org/en/cases/81/

For the 2009 Romania - Ukraine "Snake Island" example, see:

https://www.icj-cij.org/en/case/132

For the 2012 Bangladesh - Myanmar "St. Martin Island" example, see:

https://www.itlos.org/fileadmin/itlos/documents/cases/case_no_16/C16_Judgment_14_03_2012_rev.pdf

Finally, there are "Baseline" drawings decided by the International Court of Justice and the Permanent Court of Arbitration in which fringes/groups of islands located at distances of 200 nautical miles or more were accepted.

For the 1992 Canada - France "St. Pierre and Miquelon Islands" example, see:

https://digitalcommons.law.uga.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1554&context=gjicl

For the 1993 Denmark - Norway "Jan Mayen Island" example, see:

https://www.icj-cij.org/en/case/78

For the 2012 Nicaragua - Colombia "San Andres, Providencia and Santa Catalina Islands" example, see:

https://www.icj-cij.org/en/case/124

Accordingly, if a Maritime Jurisdiction Areas Delimitation Agreement (EEZ) is to be signed between Türkiye and Greece on the basis of the 1982 UNCLOS, Greece must abandon its theses, as in the cases of Crete and Rhodes, which claim that islands should be granted EEZ rights and which are incompatible with the law of the sea. This is because Exclusive Economic Zone lines are determined from the territorial sea baselines, that is, with reference to the "Normal Baseline" or "Straight Baseline" rules. Both methods contain principles that lead Greece's claims to be regarded as a violation of International Maritime Law.

 

Although the coastal state is granted discretion in determining the baseline, if the "Straight Baselines" method is preferred, this claim must be supported by hypotheses capable of justifying it. International Maritime Law establishes that a "Straight Baseline" may be drawn only if the coastal topography conforms to the principles of Article 7 of UNCLOS. Furthermore, apart from "Normal Baseline" and "Straight Baseline" drawings, Article 47 of UNCLOS contains methods for determining "Archipelagic Baselines" as a special condition; however, this special method can be used only by states recognized as "Archipelago States" under Article 46 of UNCLOS. Since Greece is neither an Archipelago State nor an Archipelagic State, it clearly cannot benefit from the special provisions of Article 47 of UNCLOS.

            In conclusion, Greece's drawing of a territorial sea boundary between the islands of Crete and Rhodes as if there were no sea between them is not only entirely unacceptable in terms of Türkiye's maritime rights and interests, but is also contrary to international maritime law and a violation of the law.