Turkish Forum

Tag: Samaras

  • Turkey responds to Greece’s note verbale to UN by issuing its own

    Turkey responds to Greece’s note verbale to UN by issuing its own

    Turkey has forwarded a note verbale to the United Nations in response to a Greek one sent to the international organization on February 20, the Greek Foreign Ministry announced late on Tuesday.

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    According to the Greek Foreign Ministry, the Turkish verbal note challenges the right of the Greek islands to a continental shelf and exclusive economic zone, in violation of article 121 of the Convention on the Law of the Sea.

    Athens had submitted a verbal note to the UN notifying international officials of Turkey’s granting of exploration permits for areas deemed to cover the Greek continental shelf.

    At the time Turkey’s Foreign Ministry had issued a statement defending its decision, noting that the permits that had been issued since 2007 to the state-owned oil company TRAO concerned territories within boundaries of the Turkish continental shelf in the Eastern Mediterranean.

    In separate interviews published in Sunday’s Kathimerini on March 10, Greek Foreign Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos and his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu said they were hopeful the two countries could resolve their differences in the Aegean Sea, though through different routes.

    While Greece is using international law as a guideline for the development of an exclusive economic zone (EEZ), Turkey would like to see a bilateral agreement.

    Both ministers were speaking following a Greek-Turkish High-Level Cooperation Council held in Istanbul earlier this month, during which Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras met with Turkish premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

    via ekathimerini.com | Turkey responds to Greece’s note verbale to UN by issuing its own.

  • Samaras wants peaceful solution to dispute with Turkey over Aegean oil and gas

    Samaras wants peaceful solution to dispute with Turkey over Aegean oil and gas

    Prime Minister Antonis Samaras insisted on Monday that Greece wants to settle its differences with Turkey in the Aegean peacefully but accused Ankara of calling on international law to defend its rights without having committed to it.

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    Samaras was speaking at the Athens Energy Forum, organized by Kathimerini and the International Herald Tribune, for the first time since Athens contacted the United Nations to complain that Turkey had been issuing permits for hydrocarbon exploration in areas that also covered the Greek continental shelf.

    “We want to settle peacefully and on friendly terms and based on the Law of the Sea our differences with Turkey over the possible discovery of hydrocarbons in the Aegean,” said Samaras.

    The Greek Foreign Ministry sent last Thursday a note verbal, a diplomatic message, to the UN to “safeguard Greece’s stance in defense of our country’s sovereign rights, in accordance with customary and conventional Law of the Sea, and specifically the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982)” in relation to Turkey issuing permits for exploration in the Aegean.

    A day later, the Turkish Foreign Ministry defended Ankara’s actions. “The permits issued by Turkey from 2007 until now to [the state-owned oil company] TRAO concern [territories] within boundaries of the Turkish continental shelf in the Eastern Mediterranean,” a statement said, adding that Turkey has a sovereign right to carry out drilling in the area.

    Samaras pointed out that Turkey was calling on sovereign rights when it had not ratified the Law of the Sea.

    “As a country, we are referring to international law, which we have signed, but Turkey refers to it without having signed,” he said.

    via ekathimerini.com | Samaras wants peaceful solution to dispute with Turkey over Aegean oil and gas.