Turkey declares two marine parks near Greek islands; Athens calls them illegal under international law

Turkey declares two marine parks

Turkey published two presidential decrees dated 15 August in its Official Gazette on 16 August, declaring two "national marine parks" signed by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The first park extends between Fethiye in Muğla province and Kaş in Antalya province, a placement that effectively encloses and excludes the entire maritime area around the Greek island of Kastellorizo. The second park covers waters near the Turkish coast of Raidestos and Çanakkale, stretching geographically between the Greek islands of Samothrace and Lemnos. According to the Greek reading of the Turkish maps, the Eastern Mediterranean park was declared beyond the 6-nautical-mile territorial sea and isolates Kastellorizo within its existing 6-nautical-mile zone. The NE Aegean park follows Turkey's longstanding position on drawing a median line between the continental coasts of Greece and Turkey.

Athens responds sharply

The Greek Foreign Ministry issued an immediate, detailed statement calling both parks illegal. Athens argued that the parks extend both into international waters and into the Greek continental shelf, and that no state has the right under the Law of the Sea to unilaterally establish marine protected areas outside its national jurisdiction. The ministry stressed that the unilateral designation of "national" marine parks in areas outside Turkey's jurisdiction cannot create faits accomplis or affect rights deriving from international law. Greece warned that such actions violate international law, do not contribute to a climate of good neighbourliness, and seriously undermine efforts to maintain relations of mutual understanding between the two countries.

Greek parks cited as contrast

The Foreign Ministry contrasted Turkey's move with Greece's own initiative to establish national marine parks in the Ionian and the Aegean on 21 July 2025. Athens noted that Greece created its parks in full compliance with the Law of the Sea and exclusively within Greek territorial waters. The Turkish decrees are widely seen in Greek reporting as a response to that Greek action. The plan formalised by the decrees was originally proposed by the National Center for Maritime Law Research at Ankara University, according to Kathimerini.

Blue Homeland doctrine

The decrees reinforce Turkey's "Blue Homeland" (Mavi Vatan) doctrine, which claims maritime jurisdiction areas across the Black Sea, the Aegean, the Mediterranean and the Sea of Marmara. Turkish newspaper Daily Sabah, cited by Naftemporiki, framed the parks as protecting Turkey's rights in the Blue Homeland, particularly at a time of increasing international cooperation involving Israel, Greece and the Greek Cypriot administration, whose maritime claims conflict with Turkey's. In May, Turkey presented plans for a "Blue Homeland law" expected to be discussed in parliament at the start of the next legislative session in October. The decrees also come amid targeted coverage in the Turkish press focusing on "Greek military activity" in the Aegean, with particular reference to the island of Ro.

Legal and geopolitical stakes

The first park, between Fethiye and Kaş, covers an area Greece considers part of its undelimited continental shelf. The second, between Samothrace and Lemnos, sits in international waters that Greece says belong to its undelimited continental shelf and enters the potential 12-nautical-mile territorial waters of the Greek islands. The placement connects to Turkey's longstanding position on the Greek continental shelf, expressed since the 1970s, including through licences granted to the Turkish state petroleum company TPAO for research in the area. Athens concluded its statement by saying it will continue to protect its sovereign rights, freedoms of the open sea, and the marine environment, guided by international legality.