Factbox: Greece’s territorial waters and Turkey - KATHIMERINI

10.11.2018 : 17:35

Angelos Syrigos

Following his resignation from the post of foreign minister, Nikos Kotzias said that Greece was ready to extend its territorial waters in the Ionian Sea to 12 nautical miles. This came as surprise to Greece’s political parties and drew a strong reaction from Turkey, which claimed that any extension of Greece’s territorial waters in the Aegean would be considered a casus belli. Here I would like to examine some of the most important questions related to a possible extension of Greek territorial waters.

What are territorial waters?

Territorial waters (also known as territorial sea) are a belt of sea adjacent to the shores of a state. This zone includes the water column, seabed below and airspace above it. States have full sovereignty in this area. The only restriction to this sovereignty is the right of innocent passage enjoyed by all ships without prior notification of the coastal state. Since the 1970s, all coastal states in the world (except Greece) have expanded their territorial waters to 12 nautical miles. This customary rule is stipulated by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Egypt, Greece, Cyprus FMs hold talks in Cairo - EGYPT INDEPENDENT / AL-MASRY AL-YOUM

September 15, 2018 // 12:44 pm

Cypriot Foreign Minister Nikos Christodoulides and Greek Foreign Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias arrived in Cairo on Friday afternoon to meet Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry for three-way talks.

Israel, Greece, Cyprus plan underwater gas pipeline - ARUTZ SHEVA 7

13/SEPT/2018 // 23:00

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Thursday, at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, held a trilateral meeting with Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias and Cypriot Foreign Minister Nikos Christodoulides. He also met with both men separately.

The three discussed, in continuation of previous meetings, the laying of a joint Israel-Cyprus-Greece East-Med gas pipeline in order to export gas to Europe. They also discussed – inter alia – regional issues, the deepening of cooperation and the initiative to establish a multi-national firefighting force.

"Foreign Minister Christodoulides and Foreign Minister Kotzias, this is one of our regular meetings between Israel, Greece and Cyprus. We have many things that we cooperate on—the environment, energy, security, emergency services, tourism, many others,” said Netanyahu.

“Our prime focus right now is on energy, on developing the eastern Mediterranean pipeline. It’s a great project, could be one of the great underwater projects in the world. And obviously it’s something that we think is important.

Greece on the energy map, with the support of big players - KATHIMERINI

Anastasiades, Tsipras (C), Netanyahu (R)

TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 11, 2018, 15:12

There has been a serious uptick in activity concerning the energy sector in the broader region in the past few months and Greece has a potentially pivotal role to play in developments.

This week, the foreign ministers of Greece and Cyprus will meet in Athens and then travel to Israel for talks with Benjamin Netanyahu, in his capacity as foreign affairs chief. Apart from the broader framework of cooperation in other areas, energy will be high on the agenda.

US energy giant ExxonMobil is planning to start exploratory drilling in Cyprus’s exclusive economic zone, and in the face of Turkey’s unpredictable behavior Nicosia is counting on the support of Israel, which it sees not just as a major player in the area and a member of the tripartite alliance with Greece, but also as a bridge with the United States, even more so thanks to the close personal relationship between the Israeli prime minister and the American president.

Greece-Israel-Cyprus summit brought forward - KATHIMERINI

SATURDAY AUGUST 18, 2018, 10:07

VASSILIS NEDOS

This fall’s planned trilateral summit in Jerusalem between Greece, Cyprus and Israel at the foreign ministry level has been brought forward to September 13.

The meeting between Greece’s Nikos Kotzias, Cyprus’s Nikos Christodoulides and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who holds his government’s foreign affairs portfolio, will take place amid increased gas exploration activity in the Eastern Mediterranean and Turkish plans to drill in the region.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly made his intention clear that Turkey will not be left out of the new energy balance in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Ankara says the solution to the decades-old Cyprus problem hinges on the way natural gas reserves off the island’s coast will be exploited.

Meanwhile, the Medusa joint aeronautical exercise between Greece and Egypt is expected to begin in coming days south of the island of Crete.

El Sisi, Shoukry talk energy cooperation, improving economic ties with Greek Foreign Minister - ENTERPRISE

Wednesday, 21 March 2018

President Abdel Fattah El Sisi and Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry met with Greek Foreign Affairs Minister Nikos Kotzias in Cairo yesterday, according to an Ittihadiya statement. Talks extended to trilateral relations between Egypt, Greece, and Cyprus on East-Mediterranean gas, increased cooperation on economy, trade, and investment, as well as counter-terror and the peaceful resolution to regional disputes. Last month, Oil Minister Tarek El Molla had said that Egypt was in talks with Greece to establish a framework for further energy cooperation, after announcing that it was closing in on an LNG import agreement with Cyprus. The three countries also said last week they would be working on a USD 4 bn 2,000 MW subsea electricity interconnection project that is expected to become part of a larger network linking Europe and Africa.

Italy joins France in warning Ankara about Cyprus gas drilling - EURACTIV.com

Jul 31, 2017

Sarantis Michalopoulos

Italian Minister of Defence Roberta Pinotti is paying a “symbolic” visit today (31 July) to Cyprus in light of oil and gas drilling that a consortium of France’s Total and Italy’s Eni is now carrying out in the region.

Cyprus started offshore drilling for gas in its economic zone triggering the strong reaction of Turkey, which warned it would take counter-measures.

Turkey claims that Cyprus’s internationally recognised government has no jurisdiction to explore for hydrocarbons [See background].

As Cyprus prepares to start offshore drilling for gas in its economic zone, Turkey announced it was readying “countermeasures” and Greece replied it was “ready to defend its sovereign rights”, in a clear sign of growing tensions between the two NATO members.

With Turkey fuming, French Frigate patrols off Cyprus, energy drilling begins - NEW EUROPE

Turkish military search and rescue exercise with helicopters & ships
near Ammochostos, Cyprus, June 14, 2017

JULY 19, 2017, 19:49
Kostis Geropoulos

French-Italian consortium hunts energy, Cyprus ignores Ankara’s warnings

French Minister for Armed Forces Florence Parly visited Cyprus for the first time on July 17 as a consortium of France’s Total and Italy’s ENI begun drilling in Block 11 of the Mediterranean island’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), despite threats from neighbouring Turkey.

Parly was reportedly briefed by her Cypriot counterpart Christoforos Fokaides on Total’s drilling in Cyprus’ EEZ. Fokaides met Parly at the Zenon crisis management centre in Larnaca, ahead of her visit to the French Navy frigate Languedoc, which is currently operating in the East Med, Cyprus Mail reported.

Cyprus government spokesman Nicos Christodoulides said on July 17 the natural gas exploration was going as planned. “There is nothing causing concern or affecting our energy planning,” he said.

Lebanon keen to revive offshore exploration - LINKED IN / MIDDLE EAST OIL & GAS MONITOR

East Med Foreign Ministers: Kasoulides, Bassil and Kotzias.

November 17, 2016Gary Lakes

With the election of a new president and the formation of a new government in the making, Lebanon is looking forward to a time when it might finally move ahead with its long-delayed plans to explore for hydrocarbons in the East Mediterranean. Yet with Lebanese politics being very complex, there’s no reason to expect that the offshore exploration game will come back into play quickly even though a number of politicians and businessmen are keen to get the suspended licensing round moving.

Saad Hariri, leader of the Sunni Muslim Future Movement, is trying to form a government before the country’s national day on November 22. If he meets that deadline it may suggest that there exists sufficient goodwill among Lebanon’s numerous political parties and religious sects to put the country on some sort of track.

Greece solved all issues for receiving Azerbaijani gas - TREND NEWS AGENCY

3 FEBRUARY 2016Maksim Tsurkov, Baku, Azerbaijan

Greece has solved all issues necessary for receiving Azerbaijani gas via the Southern Gas Corridor, said Nikos Kotzias, Greek foreign minister, at a meeting with Azerbaijani Energy Minister Natig Aliyev.

Aliyev, for his part, said the smooth implementation of the Southern Gas Corridor project is very important for the development of energy cooperation between Greece and Azerbaijan, the Energy Ministry of Azerbaijan said in a message Feb. 3.

“Some 50 percent of the work on the Shah Deniz 2 project has been completed,” added Aliyev. “Eight of 26 planned production wells have been drilled.”