​AEGEAN DISPUTE

Documenting Turkish military aggression in the Aegean

Contents

  1. Position Statement on the Aegean Dispute

1. Position Statement on the Aegean Dispute

The Hellenic Canadian Research Institute (the Hellenic Institute) seeks to document and report on the ongoing Turkish military aggression in the Aegean - in Greek territorial waters and national airspace.

The Aegean Dispute started in the 1970's and has almost resulted in war between Greece and Turkey in what was the "1987 Aegean Crisis" and the "Imia Crisis of 1996." It is a dispute that ebbs and flows depending on the economic and political situation in Turkey, and the whims of its sitting leader. In periods of harsh economic decline and internal instability, Turkish aggression in the Aegean is heightened and remains quite dangerous for protracted periods of time, often tinged with absurd actions, rhetoric and demands.

Although the Turkish aggression in the Aegean has resulted in a few fatal military accidents for both Greece and Turkey since the 1970s, the aggression and sabre-rattling is also sometimes used as a self-soothing or ego-stroking tactic by Turkish leaders to consolidate their power, to sideline opposition and to rally their base.

Turkey's aggression in the Aegean Dispute includes:

  • the Turkish understanding, interpretation and manipulation of international law, the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and other international conventions
  • the Turkish violations in Greece's territorial waters
  • the Turkish violations of the Flight Information Region (FIR)
  • the Turkish non-recognition of Greece's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and continental shelf
  • the Turkish-manufactured "grey zones" on sovereign Greek territories
  • the Turkish human smuggling operations using migrants as pawns to manipulate Europe politically and have them to bend to Ankara's demands
  • the Turkish disinformation campaigns aimed towards a western audience who are ignorant of the facts
  • the Turkish demands for demilitarization of Greek islands while simultaneously heavily militarizing western Turkey