The only legitimate dispute that needs to be settled between Greece and Turkey in the Aegean is the delimitation of the Aegean continental shelf. On this topic, Greece has repeatedly invited Turkey to the negotiation table in order for the two sides to agree to a compromise for the referral of the dispute to the International Court of Justice. Turkey has repeatedly turned down Greece's invitation.

Beyond this, all other matters, at times termed “Aegean disputes” by Turkey, consist exclusively of arbitrary claims against Greek sovereignty put forth by Turkey in defiance of international law and agreements. This Turkish practice has created great tension in the relations between Greece and Turkey. It has prevented the establishment of a long-lasting friendship between the two countries, which has always been – and remains – Greece's hope and goal. Peace, stability, and respect for international law are the only ways to ensure the necessary prosperity of Greece and Turkey and of their peoples, who have lived as neighbours and will continue to do so for centuries to come.

The problem of the delimitation of the Continental Shelf came to the forefront for the first time on November 1, 1973. On that date, the Turkish government published in the official Turkish Government Gazette a map that arbitrarily designated areas of the Aegean – including Greek areas – for which the government of Ankara had issued a license permitting research activities on the part of the Turkish Petroleum Company.

The subsequent tension reached its peak in 1974 and again in 1976, when the Turkish Oceanographic research vessels “Candarli” and “Hora” sailed into the Aegean for the purpose of carrying out research activities on the seabed just outside the territorial waters of the Greek islands.

With respect to the delimitation of the Continental Shelf, three basic differences exist between Greece and Turkey. These concern: (a) the nature of the problem; (b) the right of islands to their own Continental Shelf; and (c) the applicable provisions of International Law to the case.

1. The nature of the problem
   Turkey asserts that the difference to be settled concerns the partition of the entire Aegean Continental Shelf, and claims that Turkey should acquire areas of Continental Shelf west of the Greek islands up to the middle of the Aegean. Viewed in this light, the question loses its legal character and becomes purely political, as it would have to be settled without reference to International Law and practice, which do not support Turkey's aspirations.

   Greece, on the other hand, emphasizes that the matter to be settled consists exclusively of the legal delimitation of the Continental Shelf between the two countries, i.e., from the Thracian border to the islands of the Northern and Eastern Aegean and the Dodecanese. In other words, Greece believes that the question is a legal one, to be resolved in accordance with International Law and the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations for the resolution of international legal disputes.

2. The right of islands to their own continental shelf
   Turkey does not recognize that islands are entitled to a continental shelf of their own. Instead, it wishes to carve a line of partition down the middle of the Aegean, as if there were no islands at all in the area.

   Greece holds that the islands have full rights to the continental shelf under International Law. Greece cites, among other things, the Geneva Convention of 1958, the Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982, and the 1969 decision of the International Court of Justice concerning the delimitation of the continental shelf of the North Sea.

   All three documents establish that islands possess their own continental shelf, both pursuant to international treaties and under customary international law.

   Turkey's assertion that all the islands of the Aegean are somehow “special cases” enjoying fewer rights than others is therefore unfounded in International Law. Indeed, the fact that the Greek islands of the Aegean number nearly 3.000 and constitute a continuous chain from the Greek mainland to the Turkish coast renders irrational any attempt to ignore their existence in this respect.

3. The legal principles to be applied to the resolution of the question
   Turkey invokes the principle of “equity.” However, Turkey does not interpret this principle in accordance with International Law. Instead, she gives her own arbitrary interpretation to the notion of “equity,” using criteria of a political nature that appear to be selected in order to further non-legal expansionist designs in the Aegean.

   Greece affirms that, for the delimitation of the Continental Shelf, the applicable principle under International Law is that of the median line. This principle is foreseen by article 6 of the Geneva Convention of 1958, and is widely recognized as the basic principle of International Law in such cases.

   There is little doubt that if Turkey aimed solely at the delimitation of the Continental Shelf, and not at the entrapment of the Greek islands of the Eastern Aegean within an area of Turkish jurisdiction, the matter would already have been peacefully settled. Specifically, Turkey could have presented herself before the International Court of Justice in 1976, when Greece laid the matter before it. However, due to the refusal of Turkey to accept the jurisdiction of the Court, the Court declared lack of jurisdiction to decide the matter.

   Concerning subsequent developments, the following points should be borne in mind:

   In 1976, after a peak in the tension in the Aegean, Greece and Turkey engaged in negotiations at Berne, which resulted in a sort of “modus vivendi” between the two sides. A protocol was signed in Berne on 11 November 1976, fixing a code of conduct to govern future negotiations concerning the delimitation of the Continental Shelf in the Aegean.

No tangible result was obtained, however, and the matter remained unresolved until March 1987, when a new crisis led to the brink of hostilities.

This new crisis was provoked by Turkey, when she sent the oceanographic research vessel “Sismik-I,” escorted by Turkish warships, into the Aegean in order to engage in research activities on the seabed just outside the territorial waters of the Greek islands.

Subsequently, in letters exchanged between the Prime Ministers of Greece and Turkey, Greece reiterated her position concerning the delimitation of the Continental Shelf, the cornerstone of which is that the matter should be settled through recourse to the International Court of Justice. This position remains unaltered to this day, as does Turkey's refusal to submit her claims to the judgment of the Court.

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