Foreign Ministry: Turkey should ask itself if it wants to find itself on wrong side of law
Responding to a reporter's question about Ankara's statements regarding a recent deal between Turkey and Libya seeking to delineate marine zones between the two countries, Greek Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexandros Gennimatas remarked on Monday that Turkey should decide whether it wants to find itself "on the wrong side of the law."
"Turkey’s persistence in attempting to make disappear the maritime zones of islands – such as Crete, Rhodes, Karpathos, Kastelorizo – or even of entire island states, through ploys such as invalid bilateral memoranda that, all of a sudden, are magically transformed into agreements, or through selectively invoking court rulings or articles of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea – to which nevertheless it refuses to become party – produces no international legal effect," Gennimatas said.
While welcoming Ankara's expressed readiness to negotiate on the delineation of marine zones, as foreseen by the International Law of the Sea, Gennimatas said that those negotiations can only be conducted within the context of international law.
Statements of good intent cannot be accompanied by daily transgressions, he added. Instead of talking about islands being "on the wrong side" of the median line, Greece calls on Turkey to ask itself if it wants to find itself on the wrong side of the law, he said.
