By Bosphorus News Geopolitics Desk
Greece and Türkiye have now applied similar no-legal-effect arguments to each other's marine parks, extending their Aegean jurisdiction dispute into environmental regulation.
When Greece announced marine parks in the Aegean and Ionian seas on July 21, 2025, Türkiye's Foreign Ministry said the Aegean designation could have "no legal consequences" for disputes between the two countries. Ankara referred in particular to geographical formations whose sovereignty it says was not transferred to Greece by international treaty, and warned against unilateral measures in closed or semi-enclosed seas.
Türkiye also said it would announce its own marine environmental projects.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan did so just over a year later, signing decisions on August 15, 2026 establishing the North Aegean Marine National Park and the Fethiye-Kaş Marine National Park under Türkiye's National Parks Law. The measures entered into force after publication in the Official Gazette the following day.
As Bosphorus News reported when the Turkish parks were announced, Greece objected with a comparable argument.
The Greek Foreign Ministry said the Turkish coordinates extended beyond Turkish territorial waters, including into areas Athens regards as high seas and part of the Greek continental shelf. It said the designations could create "no legal effect whatsoever" over those areas or over Greece's claimed continental-shelf rights.
Türkiye's 2025 objection concerned the effect Greece's Aegean park might have on unresolved sovereignty and maritime disputes. Athens says its own parks remain inside Greek territorial waters.
Greece's objection to the Turkish parks concerns the reach of Ankara's coordinates beyond Turkish territorial waters and into maritime areas where Athens rejects Turkish jurisdiction.
The domestic procedures also differ. Greece has advanced its South Aegean park through environmental studies and a presidential-decree process, while Türkiye designated its parks by presidential decisions under Article 3 of the National Parks Law.
In both cases, however, the legal function of the objection is similar. Türkiye said in 2025 that a Greek marine park could not alter the legal position in contested Aegean files; Greece said in 2026 that a Turkish marine park could not generate rights in areas where Athens does not recognize Turkish jurisdiction.
The disagreement has since entered formal diplomacy. Greece delivered a demarche in Ankara in early September over Turkish maritime measures, while Turkish officials presented their own verbal notes during the same exchange.
Marine parks have now joined maritime spatial planning and other domestic regulatory measures in the Aegean dispute.
Türkiye's conservation authority says the 2026 parks build on protected areas already shown in the country's Maritime Spatial Planning Map. Greek officials maintain that their own marine parks lie within Greek territorial waters and require no Turkish consent.
Ankara says Greek marine parks cannot alter disputed Aegean questions; Athens says Turkish designations cannot establish rights outside areas it accepts as Turkish jurisdiction.
Sources: Türkiye's Foreign Ministry, Greece's Foreign Ministry, Türkiye's Official Gazette, Greek Environment and Energy Ministry, Bosphorus News review and reporting.