Greek Defense Minister Nikos Dendias on Thursday reiterated, this time from Leros, that Greece’s Dodecanese Islands retain the right, under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), for an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and to extend territorial waters to 12 nautical miles.
Greece maintains a six-nautical mile limit in the Aegean, but has strenuously said it retains the right to extend territorial waters in line with UNCLOS, an international treaty signed and ratified by EU member-states, and most of the countries in the world. Turkey is a notable exception, with successive governments since the mid 1990s periodically threatening a “cause for war (casus belli)” – in a vote taken by Turkey’s grand assembly – in case Athens exercises its rights.
Dendias, who was previously the foreign minister, made the statements from the Dodecanese island of Leros, on the occasion of the sinking of the Hellenic Navy destroyer Vasilissa Olga in the harbor of Lakki on Sept. 26, 1943 by Luftwaffe bombers during the Dodecanese campaign in WWII.
Greece, which was devastated during the Second War World on the side of the Allies, received the Dodecanese isles after the conflict, in large part due to the fact that all of the islands hosted a Hellenic presence for millennia, sans a small Turkish minority Rhodes.
A memorial service was held on the island for the 70 officers and sailors of the Greek destroyer that perished with its sinking. Greece’s top military leadership was in attendance, along with British military representatives and families of the fallen of the Vasilissa Olga and the HMS Intrepid, which was also sunk on the same day.
“Every loss becomes meaningful when it’s part of a broader context and in a course, so that it becomes an element of memory for future generations. For future generations of the Hellenic Navy; for the future generations of the Greek people,” Dendias stressed, adding:
“We’re living in a period of rapid geopolitical developments. I think the geo-strategic importance of the Dodecanese islands and the (Aegean) Archipelago is obvious to everyone. The Greek-Turkish border, which I will not tire of reminding you, is also the European border…”
