Greece plans to extend territorial waters in the Aegean amid escalation with Turkey

Greece is planning to extend its territorial waters south and west of Crete to 12 nautical miles, a move that Turkey sees as a cause for war.

The revelation was made by journalist Christina Korai who spoke to MEGA TV, Greek City Times reported on Tuesday.

“Egypt currently has an issue regarding the east of Crete," Korai said.

Greece and Egypt in 2020 has signed a maritime agreement, establishing an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the Eastern Mediterranean, in response to Turkey’s signing a maritime demarcation accord with Libya’s Tripoli government that created a sea corridor between the two countries, cutting through a zone claimed by Athens and Cairo. Greece and Egypt denounced the 2019 deal as illegal and a violation of international law, as Greece saying that it infringed on its continental shelf, specifically off the island of Crete.

Korai said the Greek government says that there’s no need to inform its allies over the extension, as it is a unilateral action Athens is entitled to. 

Once presidential decrees are prepared, they will be submitted directly to the United Nations, Korai said.

Turkey says a unilateral expansion of Greece's territorial waters to 12 miles in the Aegean would be a cause for war (casus belli), claiming that it would be an infringement of its sovereignty, while Greece maintains that it has a legal right to extend its territorial sea to 12 nautical miles according to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.