Following the instructions of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nikos Dendias, the Permanent Representative of Greece to the UN, Maria Theofili delivered yesterday letter to the Secretary-General of the Agencyin response to a relevant letter addressed by the Turkish Permanent Representative to the UN on September 30, 2021.
According to diplomatic sources, this letter, which is the product of many months of thorough work by the relevant services of the Foreign Ministry, rejects in its entirety all the allegations of the Turkish side, as they are legally, historically and factually unfounded.
See the letter here
Specifically, the whole of the Turkish argument regarding the “interconnection” of the Greek sovereignty of the islands and the adjacent Aegean islands with the alleged obligation of demilitarization of these islands is rejected.
It is emphasized that this interconnection is a clear violation of both the letter and the spirit of the Treaty of Lausanne of 1923 and the Treaty of Paris of 1947, which define permanent borders and territorial rights in the countries mentioned, without any other terms or obligations.
It is emphasized that according to international law, when states conclude a treaty defining borders or territorial sovereignty, their main purpose is to achieve stability and finality. For this reason, when a treaty defines a border or a definitive territorial settlement, that settlement is a real event in itself, which no longer depends on the treaty.
Defining a border is an autonomous reality and creates permanence.
On the contrary, it is emphasized in the letter of the Greek Permanent Representative, the Turkish unilateral objections are clearly undermining regional peace and security.
At the same time, it is emphasized that these islands, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (Article 121 (2), have rights to territorial waters, an exclusive economic zone and a continental shelf.
In this context, Greece rejects in its entirety the relevant objections of Turkey.
The letter also rejects in its entirety Turkey’s objections to the demilitarization of the Aegean islands, stressing that these objections, which are not legally motivated but have purely political motives, further fuel the instability caused by Turkey through its actions. .
There is also a clear reference to the escalation of Turkey’s aggression, invoking casus belli, as well as the deployment of a large number of military forces against the Aegean islands.
At the same time, the criminal behavior of Turkey is pointed out with particularly threatening actions, both with the overflights of Greek territory, as well as with the harassment of Navy ships and research vessels.
The letter concludes by saying that Greece calls on Turkey to stop questioning its sovereignty over the Aegean islands, to refrain from the threat of use of force, thus violating Article 2 (4) of the UN Charter, and to stop carrying out illegal actions. , which violate the sovereignty and sovereign rights of Greece in the Aegean and in the Eastern Mediterranean.
These practices, which suggest a spirit of revisionism, are completely outside the basic framework of relations between states, as defined by the UN Charter, and pose a serious threat to peace and security in the region.
Finally, it is pointed out that Greece remains convinced that the two countries can resolve their only difference, namely the definition of the Continental Shelf and the Exclusive Economic Zone, in the context of good neighborly relations and always on the basis of International Law.
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