Fire on Greece! Turkey initiated the first shot, forcing Greece to retaliate. Turkey aims to break through the blockade of the eleven-segment line in the Aegean Sea.

On April 12 local time, a Greek coast guard ship attempted to inspect a Turkish vessel near the island of Lesvos, close to Turkey's eastern border. The Turkish vessel fired at the Greek ship. The Greek coast guard returned fire, forcing the ship to retreat back into Turkish waters. No casualties were reported on the Greek side.

Greece and Turkey, as neighboring countries, should support each other instead of frequently clashing over territorial and maritime disputes. Greece has even drawn the famous eleven-segment line to extend its coastline almost to Turkey's doorstep.

So, what are the disputes between Greece and Turkey regarding their maritime boundaries? Why can Greece extend its coastline to Turkey's doorstep?

After the Paris Peace Conference, some enlightened individuals began to save China. Similarly, Turkey also lost its maritime sovereignty at the Paris Peace Conference. In 1919, the Paris Peace Conference, led by the United States, Britain, and France, signed an agreement to deal with defeated Germany. As one of Germany's allies, Turkey also signed the Treaty of Sèvres at the conference.

This treaty severely damaged Turkey's territorial sovereignty, ceding regions west of the Çatalca Line to Greece and areas west of İzmit to Greece five years later. As a result, most of the Aegean Sea was under Greek control. Turkey was left with only a narrow coastal passage and more than 80 islands, while the Aegean Sea has over 2,500 islands in total.

Although Europe later imposed certain restrictions on Greece, prohibiting it from fortifying the islands it had gained, Turkey and Greece still had increasing disputes over the Aegean Sea.

Greece and Turkey have disputes over the ownership of the Aegean Sea, the non-military construction of islands, maritime and airspace issues, and even flight information region issues. At the time of the signing of the Paris Peace Conference, the focus of the dispute between the two countries was the issue of territorial waters. However, in the 1970s, Greece discovered rich oil and natural gas resources in the continental shelf of the Aegean Sea.

Upon learning this news, Turkey immediately approached Greece for negotiations, hoping that the two countries could engage in a new round of talks about the Aegean Sea issue. However, Greece directly rejected Turkey's proposal. Turkey then sent ships to explore the disputed sea area on its own. Greece was very angry about this, which exacerbated tensions between the two countries.

The United Nations intervened promptly, issuing Resolution 395 calling for direct negotiations between the two countries. However, Greece and Turkey did not make a clear demarcation of the continental shelf issue. Nowadays, the only treaties proving the ownership of the continental shelf are the 1958 Geneva Convention and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Due to various reasons, Greece has sovereignty over most of the islands in the Aegean Sea under the Geneva Convention. Therefore, Greece believes that the continental shelf should belong to it. On the other hand, Turkey claims that it did not participate in these two conventions.

Both countries have valid reasons, and the issue of the Aegean Sea remains unresolved. Turkey proposed dividing the continental shelf based on the principle of land-to-land division, allowing each country to possess adjacent parts of the continental shelf. However, Greece does not agree with this statement. The International Court of Justice also mediated on this issue, but the continental shelf issue has not been resolved, though it has temporarily eased.

In addition to the continental shelf, the two countries are also competing for the ownership of internal islands. Greece has established military deployments in the Aegean Sea, although originally prohibited from doing so. However, after Turkey invaded Cyprus, Greece began to establish military deployments for self-defense. This poses a significant threat to Turkey.

If this issue is not resolved, the problems between Greece and Turkey will be difficult to resolve. The two countries should develop together instead of being stuck in history. History must be remembered, but it should not become a stumbling block to national and ethnic progress but rather a foundation for development. Only by realizing this can all disputes between Greece and Turkey be properly resolved, including Turkey's current issue of limited maritime territory.

Source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1829279345829899/

Disclaimer: This article represents the personal views of the author.