Tsipras says extension of territorial waters to 12 nm ‘only way forward’
The leader of the leftist main opposition argued on Monday that the extension Greece’s territorial waters to 12 nautical miles in the Eastern Mediterranean and Crete is “the only way forward,” given Turkey’s decision to re-relaunch exploratory activities in the region.
“In these 10 days, Erdogan opened up Varosha and sent a research vessel to survey within the area of the Greek continental shelf, even within the potential 12 nautical miles of our territorial waters in Kastellorizo,” Tsipras told an emergency meeting at SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance’s headquarters with the heads of the foreign and defence portfolios within the party and former armed forces' chiefs, according to party sources.
He said that developments with Turkey should come as no surprise, citing his statement 10 days earlier when he said that Mitsotakis had “thrown in the towel” at the EU summit.
“I have to wonder what the red line is for Mr. Mitsotakis,” he told the meeting.
In the current conditions, “an extension of Greece's territorial waters to 12 nautical miles around the islands of the Eastern Mediterranean and Crete was the only way forward. As well as pressure t the summit for sanctions.”
According to the same sources, Tsipras said that without a mechanism for sanctions, and if the issue of extending Greece's territorial waters to 12 nautical miles in the Eastern Mediterranean is not broached, “Greece and the EU will lose all credibility.”
