Dispute Over Eastern Mediterranean Maritime Jurisdiction Areas
Sertaç Hami BAŞEREN
There is a worsening dispute on maritime jurisdiction areas in the Eastern Mediterranean. Oil and natural gas reserves assumed to be in the region exacerbate the dispute. Greece wants to delineate the continental shelf boundary with Turkey by drawing a median line passing between Anatolian and the islands of Rhodos and Meis, and to delimit the continental shelf/EEZ areas in the Mediterranean with Egypt and the Greek Administration of Southern Cyprus. The Greek Cypriot Administration wants to delineate its continental shelf boundary with Turkey by drawing a median line passing between the Cyprus Island and Anatolia, and to delimit the continental shelf/EEZ areas in the region with Egypt and Greece on the median line principle. Such a delimitation prevents the non-encroachment right of Turkey in the region. Turkey asserts that this delimitation is not equitable, that Cyprus Island and Greece should not be granted any continental shelf except for their territorial waters on its western coasts and the regional islands respectively in compliance with the international law, and that the large continental shelf/EEZ areas should be delimited between Turkey and Egypt, which are the owners of the two coasts dominating the region. English and Turkish, 143 pages.
