Turkey wants to "swallow" Kastelorizo

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Unprecedented and extremely provocative, even for those who are accustomed to facing Turkish exaggerations in their daily lives, is Ankara's new plan. In a crude way, the Turkish government grants licenses (!) To its state oil company for the execution of oil works in three areas of Greek domination south of Rhodes and in Kastelorizo. 

In other words, with an internal legislative act, Turkey is violating international law. decides unilaterally that the Greek continental shelf reaches as far as Rhodes and attempts to reap the natural wealth of the region of the southeastern Aegean!

On Friday, April 27th, a series of decisions taken by the Turkish Council of Ministers on March 16, 2012, regarding the licensing of oil works, were published in the Government Gazette of Turkey.

Among the areas that the Turks declared part of their territory are three Greek areas: south of Rhodes and also west, east and south of Kastelorizo ​​which by their decision "detach" from the rest of Greek territory and almost declare part of Turkish territory. !

The attempt of the Turkish side to isolate Kastelorizo ​​and to "swallow" the Greek maritime zones around the island is not new. Now, however, in a clear and official way, Ankara has declared that the island's continental shelf is Turkish. And somehow Turkey announced internationally that the extreme limit of Greece belongs to it.

An action that "contradicts the rules of the Law of the Sea and in no way can affect the sovereign rights and responsibilities of Greece, based on international law", characterizes the unilateral granting of permits by the Turkish government to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In a statement, Foreign Ministry spokesman Grigoris Delavekouras noted that "our positions on this issue are given and have been repeatedly communicated to the Turkish side. In accordance with the relevant provisions of the International Convention on the Law of the Sea and customary law, areas referred to in these decisions include the Greek continental shelf ", while trying to assure that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is taking all necessary steps to secure and the defense of the sovereign rights of Greece ”.

What are the actions that will secure the Greek sovereign rights?
Protests and demonstrations at some point in the next 24 hours, is the answer given by competent diplomats.

To the question we addressed to a senior official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs if Ankara "caught the Greek government asleep", the answer we received was that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was prepared for the possibility of the Turkish government granting exploration permits in areas of Greek territory. of Greek sovereignty.

The issue is not only legal, it is obviously of great diplomatic and political importance.
What good neighborhood and zero-problem policy is Turkish Foreign Minister Davutoglu talking about when he announces the start of oil exploration in Greek maritime zones in Rhodes and Kastelorizo?

What exactly is Ankara seeking?

After the thousands of illegal immigrants who enter Greece from the Greek-Turkish border under the responsibility of the Turkish services, does the Turkish government now want to "exploit" Greece's submarine wealth by plundering an area in which the world's largest oil companies have turned their attention?

How will the Greek side react?

Will she pretend that nothing is happening and will she claim inside the country that the Greek sovereign rights are secured through the actions that the Turkish diplomacy rejects as unfounded, projecting Ankara's revisionist positions?

Why does Athens not use the EU as a lever of pressure? How is it possible for the accession negotiations to formally continue with a country that not only claims but legislates that the maritime zones of a neighboring country (Greece in this case) belong to it?

Oils create "fog"
Greece is facing an existential problem and for this reason the issue of oil and the tension in the Ankara-Nicosia-Tel Aviv triangle has not been of particular concern to it.

But now Turkey has also knocked on Greece's door. With a piece of legislation it created, Ankara gave itself the right to do oil work in Greek areas.

What will Athens do? How will the political parties react? Coincidentally, and in an ironic way, on the same day as the licenses were granted by Turkey to the Turkish state oil company, Antonis Samaras made statements against the background of the Prinos deposit.

How will the possible movement of Turkish research ships sailing for work in the area of ​​Kastelorizo ​​be dealt with?

The fact is that we are entering a critical period. Turkey has already made it clear that on July 1st, when Cyprus takes over the six-month EU presidency, it will freeze diplomatic relations with the Europe of 27.

At the same time, Ankara started drilling just a few days ago in occupied Famagusta. What will happen if he tries to search for hydrocarbons on a Greek continental shelf?