Greece Demands EU Intervention Over Turkish Fishing Violations

Greece demanded Friday that the EU "step in" over what it said was unlawful fishing and violations of maritime law by Turkish fishermen.

"We ask the European Union to intervene," Greece’s Shipping Minister Vasilis Kikilias said. "Our maritime borders are also European borders, and the law of the sea applies to everyone."

Kikilias raised the issue of "the provocative behaviour of our Turkish neighbors with regards to the unlawful fishing, the non-respect of the ​law of the sea, and the dispute of sovereign ​rights," during a meeting with ⁠the European Commissioner for Fisheries and Oceans, Costas Kadis, on ​Friday in Athens.

Despite being NATO allies, Greece and Turkey have been at odds for decades over a number of bilateral squabbles, including quarrels over maritime boundaries, overlapping claims to their continental shelves and the long-running Cyprus dispute.

Greece has designated restricted fishing areas in the Aegean Sea, some of which have been challenged by Turkey as being out of ⁠the country’s jurisdiction. Athens has also protested against a Turkish maritime spatial plan that designated zones for fishing in the Aegean Sea.

Athens says that in several cases Turkish fishing vessels have operated in areas that Athens considers to be Greek territorial waters or zones under Greek jurisdiction, in some instances with Turkish coast guard vessel presence.

According to a recent report from Bloomberg, the Turkish government is preparing to vote by June on the so-called Blue Homeland Law, which would codify Ankara’s claims to maritime economic zones in the Aegean Sea and the rest of the Eastern Mediterranean.

Any unilateral attempt to implement maritime claims outside the framework of international law "is essentially bound to fail," Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis said Thursday.