The Aegean Maritime Disputes and International Law

Yucel Acer

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• eBook ISBN: 9781351895187
• Topic: Law
• Subtopic: International Law
• Index: Law

This key work analyses the disputes between Greece and Turkey as to their respective rights in the Aegean Sea, paying particular attention to the claims regarding territorial waters, the continental shelf, and the yet to be declared exclusive maritime zones in the area. While many earlier studies have concentrated on political factors, this study provides an exhaustive analysis of the relevant principles of international law in general and rules and principles of maritime law in particular, identifying the legal principles appropriate to the settlement of the Aegean dispute. With this regard, it makes a detailed examination of all the related aspects of the Aegean Sea and its islands, as well as the legal arguments of Greece and Turkey on the disputes concerned. It also clarifies the prospects for settling the dispute on the basis of international law, either by the two parties involved, or by the intervention of a third party such as the International Court of Justice. As such, it offers an important study of a particular problem, but one that can be used as a case study for other international disagreements.

Part I
The Aegean Sea in its Contemporary Context

The physical and legal characteristics of the Aegean Sea is one set of elements¹ that epitomise the very essence of the Aegean disputes. By virtue of this, it is essential that they be reviewed and clarified at the outset in order to comprehend why these disputes, especially those related to maritime matters, have emerged in the first place and have not historically been resolved.² Part I aims at exploring these characteristics in order to establish the bases for considering the settlement of Aegean maritime disputes on the basis of international law.

A. Physical Characteristics of the Aegean Sea

1. Geographical Features of the Aegean Sea

1.1. The geography of the Aegean Sea

Although the Aegean Sea is given a distinct name, the "Aegean³, it is in fact only a part of a wider sea area, the Mediterranean, in its northeast section.⁴ However, there are many more geographical features that characterise and differentiate the Aegean Sea from the Mediterranean.

It is surrounded exclusively by the territories of Greece and Turkey. The⁵ Greek mainland territory surrounds the Aegean's western and northern coasts as far as the Greek-Turkish land boundary terminus in the northeast.⁶ From the land boundary terminus to the east to the far end of the Aegean Sea in the south, it is the Turkish mainland territory that surrounds all the eastern coasts to the point which could be regarded.

The Aegean coasts are mostly indented with various geographical features such as gulfs, reefs, capes and surrounded by numerous coastal islands, islets and rocks. The only exception is the Greek coastline that surrounds the Aegean Sea in the north which is relatively smooth.⁷

The overall size of the Aegean Sea is another feature that deserves to be mentioned here. It is a noticeably narrow sea compared to other seas of the world⁸ especially in its central section where the distance between the mainlands of Greece and Turkey is only around 150 km on average. It is relatively wider in the south where the distance reaches 400 km on average. The sea is no wider than 350 km on overall average.⁹

Although the Aegean Sea is surrounded exclusively by the coasts of Greece and Turkey, this does not mean that it has no relation to other countries. It is a maritime link to all the countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. The Aegean Sea is moreover connected directly to the Sea of Marmara through the strait of Qanakkale (the Dardanelles) and thus connected indirectly to the Black Sea through the strait of Istanbul (the Bosphorus). It therefore functions as a link to the Mediterranean for the Black Sea countries.

The most distinctive geographical characteristic of the Aegean Sea is no doubt the number of the islands. It is a place for more than 3,000 islands, islets, and rocks despite its relatively narrow size.¹⁰ These features are extremely variable in size and location.¹¹ Some parts of the Sea are populated with more islands than the other parts.¹² Generally speaking, the southern Aegean Sea has more islands, islets and rocks than the northern Aegean Sea. Another significant feature is that almost all of them, including those located in the very close vicinity of the Turkish mainland coasts, belong to Greece with exception of a few Turkish islands.

Characterised by such geographical features, the Aegean Sea requires a very complicated process to follow in order to regulate maritime rights, especially those related to maritime delimitation. The fact that most of these islands, including those situated very close to the Turkish coasts, belong to Greece constitutes the core of the current Aegean maritime disputes.

1.2. Geographical characteristics of the Aegean islands

The Aegean islands have some distinct geographical characteristics that are significant to the settlement of Aegean maritime disputes. First of all, due to their large number, the Greek islands constitute a very significant portion of the total coastal length of Greece. They have around 7,500 km coastal length in total.¹³ This figure counts for more than half of the whole Greek coastline and at least three fourths of the total Greek coastal length of 8,500 km in the Aegean Sea.¹⁴ On the other hand. Turkey's Aegean islands Sea have a mere 679 km coastal length,¹⁵ which constitutes a very small portion of the total Turkish coastal length both in general and in the Aegean Sea.¹⁶

A considerable number of the Aegean islands are very small islets and rocks with no human habitation. Some of them such as Crete, Ewia, Rhodes. Lesvos, Chios, Limnos and Samos are, however, quite sizeable and have a significant population. The rest of the Aegean islands are again different in terms of size, ranging from 10 km² to 400 km².¹⁷

The Aegean islands demonstrate a special pattern in terms of their location as well and broadly constitute certain groups. They first group of islands is situated in the eastern section of an imaginary median line between the mainlands of Greece and Turkey and therefore are called the eastern Aegean islands. This group has two separate sub-groups depending on their location in this particular section.

The first sub-group is situated in the northeast Aegean Sea and may be named the northeast Aegean islands.¹⁸ Except for three islands, they are all Greek islands despite being situated much closer to the Turkish mainland. Some of these islands are situated further off the Turkish mainland and closer to the median line between the mainlands.¹⁹ Among the northeast Aegean islands, only the island of Thassos is on the western side of the mid distance point between the mainlands and is thus closer to the Greek mainland.

The second sub-group is situated in the southeast Aegean Sea which is called the southeast Aegean islands or, as widely known, the Dodecanese.²⁰ Some of these islands are just a few miles or kilometres off the Turkish mainland,²¹ while others are further off but still to the east of the imaginary median line.²² The island of Rhodes within this group is relatively large and quite close to the Turkish mainland.²³

The second main category of the Aegean islands is situated to the west of the median line. These islands may accordingly be called the western Aegean islands. Unlike the eastern Aegean islands, they all belong to Greece with no exception. Again, this group can be considered as two separate sub-groups depending on their more specific locations. Some of them are situated in the northwest Aegean Sea and could accordingly be named as the northwest Aegean islands.²⁴ Some of these islands are very close to the Greek mainland,²⁵ while others are not so close. On the other hand, most of the western Aegean islands are situated in the south west so as to constitute the southwest Aegean islands.²⁶ Generally speaking, some of these are very close to the Greek mainland.²⁷ But most of them are located either somewhere between the Greek mainland and the median line²⁸ or very close to or on this line.²⁹

The island of Crete and some of its surrounding islands³⁰ are distinctive among the southwest Aegean islands. Unlike other islands in this area, they are to the south of the line that marks the end of the section where the mainland coasts are opposite to each other. They are not, therefore, between the mainlands. The island of Crete in particular is distinctive as it signifies the border between the Aegean Sea and the rest of the Mediterranean by being situated in the most southerly part of the Aegean Sea.³¹ It is also the largest Aegean island covering an area of 8,261 km².

The geographical characteristics of the Aegean islands in terms of coastal length, size and location are therefore quite diverse. Some islands are very small or very large in size, or very close to the mainland or quite far away from it. These factors are significantly relevant to the determination of the role of islands within a delimitation process in general³² and thus within the delimitation in the Aegean Sea in particular.³³

2. Socio-Economic Characteristics of the Aegean Sea

2.1. The Aegean Sea as a whole

Greece and Turkey have long Aegean coastlines on which cities and towns, which are now populated with millions, have been grown.³⁴ On the other hand, hundreds of Aegean islands have their own permanent population.³⁵ The population directly associated with the Aegean Sea is therefore quite large.

As already noted above, the Aegean Sea is located at the heart of some major navigational roads connecting the Mediterranean Sea with the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea through the straits of Çanakkale and İstanbul.³⁶ As the Aegean Sea is situated between the mainlands of Greece and Turkey, it also constitutes the only maritime link between the mainlands and hundreds of major Aegean islands.³⁷

The Aegean Sea moreover contains various mineral and natural resources. In this respect however, it has the general characteristics of the Mediterranean Sea which does not have major sea-bed depos...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Dedication
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Table of Abbreviations
• INTRODUCTION
• PART I: THE AEGEAN SEA IN ITS CONTEMPORARY CONTEXT
• PART II: PROSPECT FOR A JUDICIAL SETTLEMENT OF THE AEGEAN MARITIME DISPUTES
• PART III: THE LAW ON THE MARITIME AREAS
• PART IV: JUDICIAL SETTLEMENT OF THE AEGEAN TERRITORIAL SEA DISPUTE
• PART V: THE PARTIES' ARGUMENTS AND THE RELEVANT DELIMITATION LAW
• PART VI: MARITIME DELIMITATION IN THE AEGEAN SEA
• CONCLUSION
• Appendices
• Bibliography
• Index