Greece asks the EU to intervene against Turkish fishing in the Aegean as Ankara prepares June vote on Blue Homeland Law

Greek Shipping Minister Vasilis Kikilias formally asked the European Commission on May 15 to intervene over what Athens describes as unlawful Turkish fishing and violations of the law of the sea in the Aegean, raising the issue with European Fisheries and Oceans Commissioner Costas Kadis in Athens. 'We ask the European Union to intervene,' Kikilias said. 'Our maritime borders are also European borders, and the law of the sea applies to everyone.' He cited 'the provocative behaviour of our Turkish neighbours with regards to the unlawful fishing, the non-respect of the law of the sea, and the dispute of sovereign rights.'

Despite being NATO allies, Greece and Turkey have spent decades at odds over a series of bilateral disputes — maritime boundaries, overlapping continental-shelf claims and the long-running Cyprus question. Greece has designated restricted fishing areas in the Aegean Sea that Ankara has challenged as falling outside its jurisdiction, and Athens has protested against a Turkish maritime spatial plan that designates fishing zones in the Aegean. Athens says Turkish fishing vessels have repeatedly operated in waters it considers Greek territorial or under Greek jurisdiction, in some cases accompanied by Turkish coast-guard ships.

The appeal lands as Ankara prepares to put a so-called Blue Homeland Law to a vote by June, according to a recent Bloomberg report. The legislation would codify Turkey's claims to maritime economic zones in the Aegean and the rest of the eastern Mediterranean. Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis said on Thursday that any 'unilateral attempt to implement maritime claims outside the framework of international law is essentially bound to fail.'