By Bosphorus News Geopolitics Desk
Greece rejected Türkiye's latest sovereignty claim in the Aegean on August 29, saying Ankara had raised the same objection each time Athens issued a new special spatial planning framework and that repetition did not give the claim legal force.
The Greek Foreign Ministry was responding to Türkiye's objection a day earlier to Greece's new Special Spatial Framework for Industry and Supply Chain, the third planning document this month to prompt an official exchange over Aegean sovereignty.
Athens said Greece's position was based on international treaties in force and was "not open to further comment."
Türkiye's Foreign Ministry had said on August 28 that the new framework, which also covers the Aegean Sea, would have no legal consequences for Ankara in the context of the disputes between the two countries.
The Turkish statement again referred to geographical features whose sovereignty Türkiye says was not ceded to Greece through international treaties.
Ankara also invoked the December 7, 2023 Athens Declaration on Friendly Relations and Good Neighborliness and said Türkiye remained ready to cooperate with Greece as one of the Aegean's two coastal states.
It was the third exchange of this kind in August.
Three Planning Frameworks, the Same Sovereignty Dispute
Türkiye has used almost the same legal formula in response to three Greek planning frameworks this month.
On August 7, August 19 and August 28, Ankara said Greek plans covering tourism, renewable energy, and industry and supply chains could not affect its position on geographical features whose sovereignty it says was not transferred to Greece by international treaty.
The first round followed Greece's Special Spatial Framework for Tourism.
Türkiye said the framework would have no legal consequences for what Ankara describes as the interrelated Aegean disputes, including the status of geographical features whose sovereignty was not ceded to Greece through international treaties.
The second came after Greece announced its Special Spatial Framework for Renewable Energy Sources.
Türkiye repeated the sovereignty reservation on August 19 and added that unilateral actions should be avoided in closed and semi-enclosed seas. The ministry said international maritime law encouraged cooperation between coastal states and called for outstanding issues to be addressed on the basis of international law, equity and good neighborliness.
The Athens Declaration remained part of the Turkish statement.
Greece replied on August 20, noting that Türkiye had raised the same claim for the second time in 12 days. Athens said the Turkish position had no legal basis and repeated its view that sovereignty in the Aegean had been definitively established by international treaties.
The third round followed the August 28 industrial and supply-chain framework.
Türkiye again said the Greek planning document would not alter its legal position, repeated the reservation over geographical features and closed by referring to the Athens Declaration and Ankara's readiness for cooperation.
Greece answered the next day with a shorter statement. Athens said repeating the claim could not give it legal foundation and that the sovereignty status of the Aegean was not open to further comment.
Spatial Planning Carries the Dispute Into New Policy Areas
Tourism, renewable energy and industrial planning are domestic policy areas, not sovereignty instruments.
They become part of the bilateral dispute when Greek frameworks extend into the Aegean, where Türkiye and Greece continue to hold different legal positions on sovereignty, maritime jurisdiction and the status of islands and other geographical features.
Athens regards sovereignty over the relevant islands and features as settled by international treaties and rejects Türkiye's description of several interrelated Aegean disputes.
Ankara maintains that a number of issues remain unresolved and includes among them the status of geographical features it says were not explicitly transferred to Greece by treaty.
That disagreement has now surfaced through three separate areas of Greek planning in less than a month.
Each time Athens has published a new framework, Ankara has placed the same sovereignty reservation on the record. Greece has answered by rejecting the premise that the issue remains legally open.
The documents were not drawn up as bilateral diplomatic instruments. Tourism policy, renewable energy planning and industrial zoning have nevertheless become additional places where the wider Aegean dispute is being recorded.
The marine parks argument should remain separate.
Türkiye and Greece have also exchanged objections this month over protected marine areas in the Aegean, but those declarations belong to a different legal and administrative category. A planning framework for tourism, renewable energy or industry does not establish a maritime boundary, just as a marine protected area does not settle sovereignty, continental shelf or exclusive economic zone claims.
The connection is geographic.
Greek domestic planning is repeatedly reaching into areas where Ankara maintains legal reservations, and each new framework has produced another exchange between the two foreign ministries.
Türkiye is still keeping the December 2023 Athens Declaration in those statements. Greece, in its August 29 reply, chose instead to close the sovereignty question in two sentences.
Sources: Greece's Foreign Ministry, Türkiye's Foreign Ministry, Bosphorus News review and reporting.