QA-20, 21 November 2025, Statement of the Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Öncü Keçeli, in Response to a Question Regarding the Greek Maritime Spatial Planning Map on the European Maritime Spatial Planning Platform

Republic Of Türkiye Ministry Of Foreign Affairs 21.11.2025

Türkiye closely follows the Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) studies carried out in line with the recommendations of the relevant UN bodies. We have announced our national MSP on April 16, 2025, and notified it to the UNESCO Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission on June 12, 2025.

The Greek MSP map, which violates Türkiye’s maritime jurisdiction areas in the Aegean Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean, has recently been updated with reference to the “competent Greek authorities” on the website of the MSP Platform of the European Commission.

Greece, which continues to disregard the fundamental principles of international maritime law, is attempting to have the Eastern Mediterranean exclusive economic zone (EEZ) —which it has not officially declared— validated through the EU by instrumentalizing the MSP map. Türkiye rejects this unlawful fait accompli attempt.

Türkiye submitted its legal position regarding the outer limits of its continental shelf in the Eastern Mediterranean to the UN on March 18, 2020. In this respect, the so-called EEZ depicted in the Greek MSP map lies within the Turkish continental shelf.

Greece’s efforts to legitimize its positions on EEZ and the outer limits of its continental shelf —which it has not delimited with its neighbors— by inserting them into the MSP map are bound to fail and constitute unilateral steps contrary to international law.

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