Egypt condemns Libya-Turkey Mediterranean agreement - ENTERPRISE

Sunday, 1 December 2019

Egypt, Greece, Cyprus denounce Turkey-Libya agreement to redraw Mediterranean maritime boundaries: The Egyptian government has condemned as illegal the signing of two agreements on maritime boundaries in the Mediterranean and security cooperation between Turkey and Libya. 

The agreements — signed between Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Libyan PM Fayez Al Serraj in Istanbul on Wednesday — have “no legal effect” since the 2015 Skhirat peace agreement only grants the cabinet the power to sign legally-binding international agreements, Egypt said. The maritime boundaries agreed by Libya and Turkey remain unclear. Greece and Cyprus also denounced the agreement as illegal under international law, the Associated Press reports. The fallout comes amid heightened tensions over oil and gas drilling in the eastern Mediterranean.

Egypt raps Turkish comments on EEZ delimitation with Cyprus - CYPRUS MAIL

FEBRUARY 7, 2018

No party can question the legitimacy of the delimitation agreement between Egypt and Cyprus and any effort to undermine Egyptian sovereignty in its exclusive economic zone is dismissed and will be addressed, the Egyptian foreign ministry said on Wednesday.

In a statement in response to recent comments by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu questioning the correctness of the delimitation of the exclusive economic zones of Cyprus and Egypt, Spokesman for the Egyptian foreign ministry Ahmad Abu Zeit said, “no party could question the legitimacy of the agreement given that it is in line with the regulations of international law and has been submitted to the United Nations”.

Replying to questions, Abu Zeit warned that any effort to undermine the sovereign rights of Egypt in the region is considered to be rejected and will be addressed.

Egypt to open new areas in Red Sea for oil, gas exploration - BUSINESS STANDARD

Cairo July 14, 2017, 04:52 IST
IANS

Egyptian Petroleum Minister Tarek el-Mulla said on Thursday that new areas in the Red Sea will be open for bidding for exploration as part of Egypt's effort to expand oil, gas production.

Mulla did not disclose the exact date for the bidding. He told a news conference that the bidding comes after the recent approval of the Egyptian-Saudi maritime border demarcation deal, in which Egypt agrees to transfer two Red Sea islands in the Red Sea to Saudi Arabia, Xinhua reported.

Earlier on Thursday, Mulla and Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail held a meeting to discuss a number of issues, including the latest deals and bids that aim to increase the country's crude oil and natural gas production, the official news agency MENA reported.

What lies beneath - EXECUTIVE MAGAZINE

Lebanon must act to keep its seat at the oil and gas table

April 14, 2016 by Roudi Baroudi

Lebanon has missed several opportunities to grow its nascent oil and gas industry at an ideal pace, but now regional developments threaten not just further delays, but also permanent losses unless the country acts to protect its national interests.

The new urgency stems primarily from two principal events. The first was last summer’s discovery of the giant Zohr gas field off Egypt’s northern coast by Italy’s ENI, a find estimated by some to have doubled the North African country’s natural gas reserves overnight. It also significantly increased the likelihood of commercially viable deposits in nearby offshore acreage belonging to Cyprus, Lebanon and Israel. This has sparked renewed interest in this section of the Eastern Mediterranean basin from major international oil companies.

Egypt, Greece, Cyprus: Partnership amid economic political difficulties? | Daily News Egypt

Egypt, Greece, Cyprus: Partnership amid economic political difficulties?
Establishing Palestinian state is important for launching regional body that deals with gas exploration, says Cypriot analyst

Ahmed Abbas  December 12, 2015 


A second trilateral meeting between Egypt, Greece and Cyprus was held last Wednesday in Athens, and a joint collaboration between the three countries is being shaped.

The gas explorations in the eastern Mediterranean have resulted in crucial discoveries for the three states, especially Egypt, as it is in dire need of an economical boast, and Greece, which is still suffering from the economic crisis. Moreover, forming an ally in the face of Turkish policies in the region may be also a target of this alliance.

These have been floated as the foremost potentials, as experts speculate on the strategic importance of this alliance, and the time at which it comes. George Filis, Adjunct Professor of European Affairs at the American College of Greece, believes this alliance is important for both geo-economic and geo-political reasons.

Geo-economic collaboration

In August 2015, the Italian company Eni announced the discovery of a giant natural gas deposit in the deep waters of Egypt. The discovery could hold a potential of 30tr cubic feet of gas on an area of about 100 sqkm. The Zohr reserve is the largest gas discovery ever made in Egypt and in the Mediterranean Sea, according to Eni.

In the same year, Noble Energy, which is responsible for exploration of hydrocarbons in Block 12 of Cyprus’ Exclusive Economic Zone, announced the discovery of the Aphrodite natural gas field.

Filis believes that the discovery of the super-giant natural gas deposit (Zohr) in the Egyptian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) could be a game-changer in the energy developments of the region, while it might reorient the plans and priorities of both Cairo and other stakeholders.

“This discovery, in combination with the recent developments and findings in the Cypriot EEZ (Aphrodite deposit), along with the fact that the newfound Egyptian deposit is very close to the Cypriot EEZ, increases the probability of discovering something similar on the other side of the maritime borders. Greece’s preparations of for the conduction of similar explorations in the region south of Crete and in the Ionian Sea make the demand for cooperation and coordination urgent and natural,” Filis told Daily News Egypt.

Discussion are being held between Nicosia and Cairo regarding the possibility of transporting Cypriot natural gas to existing Egyptian facilities for further processing, and exports are moving in this direction. This could increase Greece’s importance as an emerging regional energy hub through the full materialisation of the potentials of the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) project.

“This means Greece will need to secure extra natural gas quantities (LNG or conventional), a part of which might come from Cyprus and Egypt,” Filis added.

The gas explorations in the eastern Mediterranean cannot be handled by one country, according to Marios Evriviades, Cypriot professor of International and European Relations.

“No country can take on all of these explorations on its own; it is an area that everybody can claim. This is why they are in collaboration to identify the economic zones,” Evriviades told Daily News Egypt.

He added that the three countries are trying to establish a regional body towards everybody’s benefit. Since Greece and Cyprus are EU members, they are required to follow the EU regulations regarding forming such bodies, and this body may work under the EU laws, according to Evriviades.

Cyprus has also signed treaties with Israel and Lebanon regarding the borders of its exclusive economic zone. The Israeli Leviathan gas field is only 21 miles away from the Cypriot Aphrodite. Thereby, Evriviades believes that both Israel and Lebanon may join this cooperation. “If a regional body is established between Egypt, Greece and Cyprus, Israel may join because it has interests,” he said.

Abdul Monem Saeed, head of the Regional Centre for Strategic Studies, believes the cooperation among the three countries tips in Egypt’s favour since it is currently facing major economic problems.

“The three countries have large opportunities to benefit from this cooperation through the exchange of experience, as each one of the countries has great expertise in a certain field. To avoid the cooperation’s failure, they must divide the resources among them and prevent any other side from intervening in their affairs,” Saeed told Daily News Egypt.

The Athens Declaration announced during the meeting, along with the clear official statements by the three country’s leaders, set a solid basis for more organised and regulated cooperation on maritime and energy policies. The creation of the joint structures, and the fact that all leaders underlined their willingness that their next meeting in Cairo will be accompanied with tangible steps towards the practical materialisation of the agreement, affirm the certainty surrounding the collaboration.

Do borders pose a problem?

While media reports said Egypt and Greece may take time to agree on maritime borderlines, Saeed does not believe this will be a problem.

“No conflicts are expected among the three countries due to the presence of certain principles articulated in international law that must be followed in such coalitions. I believe the three countries are fully aware of these principles,” he said.

For Cyprus, the borders with Egypt and Israel have already been identified, but Evriviades believes the Gaza Strip’s maritime borders are more problematic. “Gaza strip has its own sea borders, and I think Egypt, Cyprus and Israel accept that,” he said. He added that any cooperation body must take into consideration the interests of Palestinian authorities.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi and Greek Prime minister Alexis Tsipras spoke of the importance of a two-state solution to the Palestinian case. Evriviades believes this fits into the framework of establishing a regional body that deals with gas exploration.

He added that any cooperation in this area will empower Palestinians, as they will be given the facilities to explore gas and participate in this regional body. “I think the international community will accept this,” he said.

Collaboration crucial to help post-crisis Greece

For the last seven years, Greece has experienced a tremendous economic devastation that is unprecedented for a developed country and economy during peace-time. Despite this, Greece is utilising its tremendous human and capital resources. Its unmatched economic potentials due to its geographical positioning and the entrepreneurial nature of its people demonstrates a societal cohesion that only a nation with the history, tradition and roots of the Greek people could comprehend and safeguard, Filis believes.

However, the danger, not just for Greece but for the EU as whole, has not passed. “Immigration and refugee flows, the neo-protectionist measures of many of our European colleagues along with the rise of extreme-right and/or extreme-left ideologies (especially the former) create a situation which destabilises the EU as a whole and puts the European integration project into question,” he continued.

“Within this framework, Greece should act as a paradigm for resilience for all the countries of the region. Moreover, the geographic advantage of the country, along with the existing state-of-the-art infrastructures, might enable neighbouring countries –like Egypt- to use Greece as a transportation and commercial hub, as a reliable energy partner for exporting natural gas to the EU, and of course as a valuable colleague for know-how transfer and high technology projects,” Filis said.

The cooperation will also create new job opportunities for young Greeks, and this will reduce unemployment rates, he noted.

According to Filis, post-crisis Greece has a lot to offer, both in material and in intellectual terms, to all the countries and the companies that comprehend these potentials and benefits. Moreover, as the Athens Declaration signed after the tripartite meeting states, the three countries are about to establish a standing Joint Committee of Cooperation aiming to “formulate, develop, and promote practical projects of trilateral interest”.

Geopolitical cooperation: An alliance against Turkey?

Focusing on the Greek point of view, the timing for the development of a strategic alliance with Cairo is crucial. “Our countries right now constitute the main pillars of stability in the broader region that I define it as the water axis of the Black Sea – Straits – Aegean – Eastern Mediterranean (BSSAEM),” Filis said.

“In purely geopolitical terms, Greece and Cyprus need Egypt, and Egypt needs Athens and Nicosia as a base of reference, reliance and certainty in an era of turbulence, instability and uncertainty,” he added.

The basic threats that Greece and Cyprus face are common with Cairo’s issues of major concern. The most important regional threat for Greece and Cyprus are the neo-Ottoman aspirations of a revisionist and aggressive Turkey that tries to challenge the status in both of the Aegean and the eastern Mediterranean. Filis believes Ankara’s dubious policies regarding combating “Islamic State” and its unacceptable practices regarding the unprovoked attack on a Russian air force aircraft in Syria, as well as its intrusion into the Iraqi sovereign space near Mosul, prove that Turkey, at least its current political elite, is not part of the solution for the chaos in the region, but rather part of the problem.

As such, “deterring a revisionist imperialist Turkey in the Eastern Mediterranean and combating terrorism, and its supporters, in the broader area constitute a top priority to Greece, Cyprus and Egypt, a reality which offers the necessary common interest to bring together our countries and forge a strategic alliance, which will become the new point of reference in the eastern Mediterranean,” Filis said.

Saeed believes the cooperation between Egypt, Greece and Cyprus aims to address the Turkish policies in the region “especially as dealing with Turkish situation requires coalitions, as well as helping Egypt determine the marine boarders to discover gas and petroleum in the Mediterranean Sea”.

However, Evriviades believes Turkey would be welcomed if it decided to join this coalition, provided that it follows international law. “The problem of Turkey is that it wants to play according to its own rules,” Evriviades said. He believes when the three leaders said they welcome any country to join the cooperation, provided that it accepts international law, they may be referring to Turkey.

“Turkey is in our interest, because we want stability, but stability that is based on balance, and not one that comes out of aggression,” he said. Turkey must change its policies before it can join according to him.

More positive economy, more stability

The most efficient and effective energy scheme should be utilised in order for all the parties to reap the benefits of this cooperation, according to Filis.”Greece and Cyprus could act as the best ally in the EU for Egypt and might support and contribute to the further enhancement of Cairo’s relations with Brussels. “Cairo could attract Greek investments and human capital,” he said.

Meanwhile, Evriviades believes that the interests of both Greece and Cyprus support a strong stable Egypt, and to achieve this, the three countries should work to enhance their economies.

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Greece, Cyprus, Egypt to speed up talks over sea boundaries | Reuters

Fri Dec 11, 2015

ATHENS | BY ANGELIKI KOUTANTOU AND RENEE MALTEZOU | REUTERS/ALKIS KONSTANTINIDIS

Greece, Egypt and Cyprus agreed on Wednesday to speed up talks to demarcate sea boundaries in the Eastern Mediterranean as part of efforts to turn the region into an offshore natural gas hub.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Cypriot President Nikos Anastasiades met in Athens to discuss how they could take advantage of gas reserves especially after Egypt this year discovered the biggest offshore gas field in the Mediterranean.

"The discovery of significant hydrocarbon reserves in the east Mediterranean and at Zohr, can and must be a catalyst for wider regional cooperation," Anastasiades said after the third such summit since November 2014.

The leaders set up a joint committee to work on tourism, investment and energy projects. They will explore the potential for new pipelines in the region depending on the level of gas reserves found in the eastern Mediterranean, Tsipras said.

However, independent experts say most of the gas found off Cyprus, Israel and Egypt will go for domestic consumption and question whether there is sufficient to make a pipeline to Europe viable.

"A gas pipeline (or electric cable) from the Eastern Med to Greece, via Crete, and on to the Balkans and Eastern Europe is a non-starter on the basis of the quantities so far discovered," said Michael Leigh, head of the Eastern Mediterranean Energy Project at the German Marshall Fund think-tank.

The next summit will take place in Cairo next year.

"We aim to have visible and tangible results through the joint projects," Sisi said.

Maritime zones claimed by countries for commercial research, known as economic exploitation zones, are governed by the U.N. law of the sea or bilateral accords between neighboring states which normally settle on an equidistant boundary.

Cyprus, which is ethnically split between its Greek and Turkish Cypriot populations after a Turkish invasion in 1974, defined its economic zone in 2004 and since then its maritime boundaries with Egypt and Israel. It found gas offshore in 2011, in a move which has been challenged by Ankara.

Tsipras said defining sea borders was not aimed at excluding third countries - a veiled reference to Turkey, with which all three have prickly relations.

Anastasiades, who is trying to negotiate Cyprus settlement, said natural resources "should be a chance for cooperation and not confrontation" in the region.

"Our aim is not to exclude anyone," he said. "Our cooperation is not against anyone. Our energy sources can suffice for the needs of many Europeans and other neighbors."

Turkey and Greece, an EU member, have been at loggerheads for decades over land, air, sea and sea-floor borders in parts of the Aegean Sea. Egypt has been at odds with Turkey since Sisi led a military coup that ousted an elected Muslim Brotherhood president backed by Ankara in 2013.

(Additional reporting by Lefteris Karagiannopoulos; Editing by Paul Taylor and David Evans)

Source

Greece, Egypt, Cyprus to step up talks on delineating offshore exploitation rights | US News

Greece, Egypt, Cyprus to step up talks on delineating offshore exploitation rights

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, center, speaks as Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, left, and Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades listen to him during their trilateral summit in Athens, Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2015. Greece's political and business leaders promised to expand trade deals with Egypt after meetings following a massive offshore natural gas discovery in the southern Mediterranean. 

(AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis) 

Associated Press | Dec. 9, 2015

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece, Egypt and Cyprus say they will speed up talks on how to stake out undersea territory in the Mediterranean, following the discovery of a large gas field off Egypt's coast.

At a meeting in Athens on Wednesday, the three countries' leaders issued a joint statement saying they would accelerate talks to resolve "outstanding issues" on delineating their maritime zones.

In August, Italian energy giant Eni announced the discovery of what it described as one of the world's biggest natural gas fields off Egypt. Cyprus and Greece are also hoping to exploit Mediterranean offshore gas and oil reserves.

After talks with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi and Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras voiced hopes that the three countries can cooperate on gas transportation to European markets.

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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The Continental Shelf Delimitation Agreement Between Turkey and “TRNC” | EJIL

May 26, 2014, Nikolaos Ioannidis*
Last month, Turkey submitted a note verbale to the Secretary-General of the United Nations setting out the geographical coordinates of its continental shelf in the Eastern Mediterranean, as established by a delimitation agreement with the “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus” (“TRNC”). The agreement was signed on 21 September 2011 and ratified by the Turkish government on 29 June 2012. A map published by the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs depicting the agreement is pictured below. (The reasons why the “TRNC” is in quotation marks will be elaborated below.) By transmitting this document to the UN Secretary-General, Turkey sought to achieve the publication of the agreed coordinates in the Law of the Sea Bulletin (LSB), where official submissions by states regarding the law of the sea are published. Although Turkey has not acceded the UN Law of the Sea Convention (‘LOSC’), it acted in accordance with article 84(2) LOSC (due publicity of charts or lists of geographical coordinates regarding continental shelf delimitation). Nonetheless, the submission of Turkey was not listed as an official deposit on the website of the Department of Oceans and the Law of the Sea (DOALOS).

The Turkish approach on the regime of islands
The delimitation agreement outlines some of Turkey’s longstanding positions on the law of the sea. It deals only with the continental shelf and does not provide for the delineation of an exclusive economic zone (EEZ). While there is nothing precluding coastal states from choosing which maritime zones to claim and/or to delimitate, Turkey’s choice not to delimit an EEZ with the “TRNC” alludes to the Turkish position that islands in certain regions (implying the Aegean Sea) should not be entitled to claim maritime zones of their own other than territorial sea or should have reduced capacity to generate such zones. This stance was formulated in the context of the dispute between Turkey and Greece concerning sovereignty over the maritime space of the Aegean Sea;  since the 1970s, Turkey has sustained that the Aegean islands are situated on the continental shelf of Anatolia (Turkey) and, consequently, do not have a continental shelf of their own. This matter was an apple of discord between the Turkish and the Greek delegations over the course of the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (‘UNCLOS III’). In the end, by virtue of article 121(2) LOSC, the Conference recognised the rights of islands to generate maritime zones. Article 121 LOSC reflects customary law (ICJ, Nicaragua v Colombia (2012), para 139) and, accordingly, applies to non-states parties as well.

Turkey’s resentment at the provisions on the regime of islands was one of the reasons it voted against and has not yet acceded to the LOSC (see Plenary Meetings 160 and 189). For the sake of clarity, it should be pointed out that when it comes to maritime delimitation, the maritime space an island can claim may be diminished depending on the circumstances (see, e.g., Anglo-French Arbitration 1977, Tunisia v Libya 1982, Black Sea Case 2009, Bangladesh/Myanmar 2012). Therefore, although in principle islands are not deprived of the rights bestowed on them by article 121 LOSC, they may not always be granted full effect in maritime boundary delimitations. However, islands cannot be denied their capacity to generate maritime zones and/or to be given decreased effect a priori; each case should be scrutinised according to its own unique terms. In any event, the Turkish argument that the Greek islands in the Aegean are located on the continental shelf of Turkey has been severely emaciated by the introduction of the EEZ concept and the prevalence of the “distance criterion” of maritime delimitation over the “geological” one. The distance criterion provides that the breadth of the maritime space afforded to a state should be calculated according to a fixed distance measured from the coast. The geological criterion, by contrast, would permit a state to claim the sea waters lying over the “natural prolongation” of its territory irrespective of the distance from its coastline. In the Nicaragua v Colombia case (2012), the ICJ put an end to the argument that one state’s islands cannot have their own continental shelf because they are located on another state’s continental shelf:

“The Court does not believe that any weight should be given to Nicaragua’s contention that the Colombian islands are located on “Nicaragua’s continental shelf”. It has repeatedly made clear that geological and geomorphological considerations are not relevant to the delimitation of overlapping entitlements within 200 nautical miles of the coasts of States.” (para 214).

The delimitation agreement
According to its well-established position that islands should not have the capacity to claim extended maritime zones when facing a bigger coastline, Turkey holds the view that Cyprus, being an island, has lesser effect in terms of maritime delimitation than the longer Turkish coastline, which is opposite the northern coast of Cyprus. Hence, as the agreement provides, the continental shelf delineation was carried out in accordance with equitable principles, resulting in a delimitation line closer to Cyprus at some points, which gives Turkey a more extensive maritime space than that allocated to the “TRNC”. Turkey was a fervent advocate of the equitable principles/relevant circumstances method during UNCLOS III, vehemently rejecting the median line/special circumstances method (UNCLOS III, Negotiating Group 7). The “equitable principles” method, which was elaborated in the 1969 Continental Shelf cases, stipulates that all relevant factors should be considered in order to reach an equitable result; however, the Court gave no further guidance as to how such an equitable result would be reached, rendering this method equivocal.

Although the debate over these two delimitation methods was intense, the LOSC did not manage to elucidate the vagueness surrounding the law of maritime delimitation; articles 74 and 83 LOSC merely strike a balance between the two opposing sides’ assertions. Nevertheless, there has been a growing trend towards assimilation of the two methods, early signs of which are discernable in several cases before international tribunals [Anglo-French Continental Shelf Arbitration (para 148), Jan Mayen case (para 56), Qatar v Bahrain case (para 231)]. At the moment, the view supporting the integration of the two methods seems to prevail [International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) Bangladesh/Myanmar case (para 238)].

Of course, the looming reconciliation of these delimitation methods does not preclude states from agreeing to designate their maritime boundaries using only one of them. In the case under consideration, though, things are not that simple. Turkey concluded an agreement with a regime established in the aftermath of the Turkish military invasion of Cyprus in 1974, which entailed use of force in violation of article 2(4) UN Charter. The “TRNC” was established in 1983 in northern Cyprus, which has been occupied by the Turkish Armed Forces since 1974. Security Council resolutions 541/1983 and 550/1984 condemned this secessionist action and reaffirmed that the sole legitimate government on the island was the Republic of Cyprus. Furthermore, the European Court of Human Rights resolved that the “TRNC” is a “puppet state” under the “effective control” of Turkey [Loizidou v Turkey, App. No. 15318/89 (18 December 1996) paras 56 and 57; Cyprus v Turkey, App. No. 25781/94 (10 May 2001) paras 77, 78 and 80; Xenides-Arestis v. Turkey, App. No. 46347/99 (22 December 2005) para 27]. Also, the ICJ confirmed the illegality of the regime established in northern Cyprus in the Kosovo Advisory Opinion(para 81). Thus, the regime in northern Cyprus is illegal and cannot claim statehood, as it is ‘a putative state emerged … with the assistance of foreign military intervention’ (James Crawford, The Creation of States in International Law, 2nd edn OUP 2006, p. 144).

Conclusion
Consequently, the continental shelf delimitation agreement between Turkey and the breakaway “TRNC” is not valid under international law, as the latter party is not a legitimate state entity. It thus cannot be accepted by the DOALOS as a lawful submission and be published in the LSB. As expected, the foregoing development triggered a reaction from the Republic of Cyprus and Greece, whose governments deplored the submission and deemed the agreement unacceptable. Another controversial matter to be contemplated is whether this agreement would be binding upon the Republic of Cyprus should a solution to the Cyprus Problem –which concerns the enduring occupation of northern Cyprus by the Turkish Armed Forces since 1974- be reached, given the unequal terms of the delimitation. Further, it will be interesting to see whether Turkey will be keen to conclude any maritime delimitation agreements with Greece in the Aegean Sea/Eastern Mediterranean in light of the discovery of hydrocarbon deposits therein and, if so, according to which method such delineations will be effected.

This incident illustrates the pivotal role international law can play in international relations. Turkey, a non-state party to the LOSC, realised that unless it acted in conformity with international law, the delimitation agreement would not have any legal standing. Therefore, it followed the rules set forth by the LOSC regarding the deposit of geographic coordinates of the continental shelf purporting to legitimise the agreement, even though the instrument in question cannot have any legal consequences due to the unlawfulness of the “TRNC”. Although a non-state party to the LOSC, Turkey was willing or compelled to conform to rules with which it disagrees in order to promote its interests. Moreover, this incident supports the argument that observing international law norms is the best way for states to pursue their legitimate rights. The law of the sea must be the tool for resolving disagreements on maritime affairs in the region, especially in view of the discovery of new oil and gas resources and the prospective benefits they hold for states of the region.

* Nikolaos A. Ioannidis is a PhD candidate in Public International Law at University of Bristol. His doctoral thesis focuses on the application of the Law of the Sea in the Eastern Mediterranean in light of the discovery of hydrocarbon deposits in the seabed and subsoil of the region. Other fields of interest: Law of Armed Conflict, Constitutional Law, Jurisprudence.

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