Turkey’s minister of transport and infrastructure on Tuesday afternoon apparently “walked back” from a previous statement foreshadowing an agreement with the Syrian transition government to delimitate an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the east Mediterranean, a development that raised “alarm bells” across the wider region.
In Athens, the abrupt statement by Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu generated, according to reports, intense scrutiny and disapproval by the country’s foreign ministry.
Greece has lambasted Turkey’s previous attempt to etch out a similar EEZ in the Mediterranean with another transitional government in a war-ravaged country, i.e. the Tripoli-based provision government in Libya, back in 2019.
The Greek side has repeatedly called the Turkey-Libya maritime deal illegal, baseless and void.
In his “clarifying statements”, Uraloğlu said any future EEZ delineation with Damascus will be based on “international law”, and require a “stable government in Syria”, as he said.
The reference to “international law” was also noteworthy, given that official Turkey is a standing objector to the landmark United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), although it follows, de facto, some of its provisions on a case-by-case basis, such as in the Black Sea.
The Cypriot government, on its part, issued an official reaction to the Turkish minister’s statements, with a spokesman on Tuesday warning against any attempts to undermine its sovereign rights in the eastern Mediterranean, amid reports of the potential maritime agreement between Turkey and Syria.
According to government spokesperson Konstantinos Letymbiotis, such actions would violate international law and prompt Cyprus to respond with all available measures.
