Turkey’s Legal Approach to the Maritime Boundary Delimitation in the Eastern Mediterranean

Acer Y.

Insight Turkey, vol.23, no.1, pp.99-114, 2021 (ESCI)

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 23 Issue: 1
  • Publication Date: 2021
  • Doi Number: 10.25253/99.2021231.5
  • Journal Name: Insight Turkey
  • Journal Indexes: Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, IBZ Online, International Bibliography of Social Sciences, ABI/INFORM, Index Islamicus, MLA - Modern Language Association Database, Political Science Complete, vLex, Worldwide Political Science Abstracts, TR DİZİN (ULAKBİM)
  • Page Numbers: pp.99-114
  • Ankara Yıldırım Beyazıt University Affiliated: No

Abstract

For more than a decade, the states bordering the Eastern Mediterranean

Sea have been in disagreement over the delineation of their maritime

boundaries. The disagreements concern various parts of the region

and create enormous political tension over energy-related activities. Ever

since Egypt and the Greek Administration of Southern Cyprus (GASC)

signed the very first delimitation agreement of the region, without securing

Turkey’s involvement, Turkey has issued many official statements and

carried out energy-related activities in the region. Based on the principle

that maritime delimitation should be carried out to reach an equitable

solution by taking all the relevant circumstances into account, Turkey has

developed a comprehensive legal approach as to the maritime delimitation

in the Eastern Mediterranean and even submitted a map to the UN to

demonstrate Turkey’s claimed continental shelf and Exclusive Economic

Zones (EEZ) areas. The details of this comprehensive approach should be

examined, to identify both the claims of Turkey over the maritime borders

and the related legal arguments.