Turkey’s Legal Approach to the Maritime Disputes in the Eastern Mediterranean

For more than a decade, the states bordering the Eastern Mediterranean Sea have been in disagreement over the delineation of their maritime boundaries. The disagreements concern various parts of the region and create enormous political tension over energy-related activities. Ever since Egypt and the Greek Administration of Southern Cyprus (GASC) signed the very first delimitation agreement of the region, without securing Turkey’s involvement, Turkey has issued many official statements and carried out energy-related activities in the region. Based on the principle that maritime delimitation should be carried out to reach an equitable solution by taking all the relevant circumstances into account, Turkey has developed a comprehensive legal approach as to the maritime delimitation in the Eastern Mediterranean and even submitted a map to the UN to demonstrate Turkey’s claimed continental shelf and Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) areas. The details of this comprehensive approach should be examined, to identify both the claims of Turkey over the maritime borders and the related legal arguments.

The Legal and Political Aspects of the Eastern Mediterranean: What is at Stake?

The main challenge in relation to Mediterranean gas is the distribution of potential gas reserves which inevitably entails delimitation of maritime borders. However, in the context of the Eastern Mediterranean, this is highly problematic mainly due to the status of the Greek islands along with their close proximity to the Turkish mainland and the failure in resolving the ‘Cyprus issue.’ There are two key questions in relation to the Eastern Mediterranean crisis: (i) What are the contesting claims over maritime border delimitation between Turkey, Greece, and the Greek Administration of Southern Cyprus with reference to the international law? (ii) Why has the Eastern Mediterranean dispute been politicized so much that it has drawn in countries far from the region? This article examines the legal and political dimensions of the Eastern Mediterranean crisis by analyzing the respective countries’ standpoints through the lens of international law along with the implications of earlier such disputes. The article also investigates the political dimensions of the crisis by looking into alliance formation and how existing political tensions in the region came to the surface in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Root Causes of the Eastern Mediterranean Dispute: Approaches of the Main Actors

The Eastern Mediterranean region is said to host five percent of the world’s known natural gas reserves. That stimulates tension when coupled with the aspirations of some states to claim these resources and control their transport to the markets. The claims of Greece and the Greek Administration of Southern Cyprus (GASC), which has always acted as if it were the sole representative of the island, seem to be extreme, given the relevant the rules of international law. In order to achieve its aspirations over Libya, France has recently intervened in regional developments on the side of Greece. Turkey has declared that its continental shelf in the Eastern Mediterranean extends up to 28° E longitude and that the western boundary of the Turkish continental shelf to the west of this longitude shall be drawn through equitable agreements with all concerned states. Turkey has also taken certain preventive measures to protect its rights and interests by making particular references to the relevant rules of international law. The present commentary examines the real motivations behind the acts of all sides and reviews their justifications with reference to international law, with particular reference to Turkey’s actions

New monitoring confirms regular breeding of the Mediterranean monk seal in Northern Cyprus

The Endangered Mediterranean monk seal Monachus monachus is one of the most threatened marine mammals. Across Cyprus, suitable habitat and presence of monk seals is well documented and, recently, camera-trap surveys in Southern Cyprus found there to be pupping. We present results of the first camera-trap surveys in Northern Cyprus spanning the pupping period. Four adult/subadults and three pups were identified in three of eight caves monitored with camera traps. One site on the north-west of the island supported at least three adult/subadult seals and pupping occurred there in 3 consecutive years. The breeding and resting sites identified require urgent conservation to manage threats of disturbance, coastal development and fisheries bycatch. To determine the size of this population, a long-term survey with greater and more continuous coverage is required.

Still Unrecognized State “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus” in the Context of the Cyprus Negotiations: Status of the TRNC’ Court Decisions

The issue of the recognition of the TRNC brings specific constraints because of the influence of the Cyprus peace talks, which have been ongoing for 50 years. After the new era started in 2014, the TRNC authorities’ efforts to reach an agreement and their struggle to make the TRNC recognized have been obstructed by barriers placed by the southern Cyprus administration. Each of the sides in the peace talks approaches each other’s demands positively or negatively. One of the other important problems is whether the decisions given by the TRNC Courts would create an effect like the court decisions given by the courts of any recognized states or not. In order for the court decisions of the TRNC judiciary to have the necessary effects, the TRNC must become effectively an equal on the negotiation table and a directly recognized state. Turkey has enabled the TRNC judiciary decisions to have an effect in Turkey by signing protocols with the TRNC, but what is the status of related court decisions in other countries? In this framework, this study aims to analyse the court decisions in other unrecognized states via the document analysis method. According to the findings, the TRNC’s judiciary decisions can have an effect in other countries. Additionally, the TRNC is a recognized state at least in a limited (indirect) manner and has political equality, but this needs to be improved further via direct recognition.

Spatial distribution of marine macro-litter on the seafloor in the northern Mediterranean Sea: the MEDITS initiative

Marine litter is one of the main sources of anthropogenic pollution in the marine ecosystem, with plastic representing a global threat. This paper aims to assess the spatial distribution of plastic macro-litter on the seafloor, identifying accumulation hotspots at a northern Mediterranean scale. Density indices (items km–2) from the MEDITS trawl surveys (years 2013-2015) were modelled by generalized additive models using a Delta-type approach and several covariates: latitude, longitude, depth, seafloor slope, surface oceanographic currents and distances from main ports. To set thresholds for the identification of accumulation areas, the percentiles (85th, 90th and 95th) of the plastic spatial density distribution were computed on the raster data. In the northern Mediterranean marine macro-litter was widespread (90.13% of the 1279 surveyed stations), with plastic by far the most recurrent category. The prediction map of the plastic density highlighted accumulation areas (85th, 90th and 95th percentiles of the distribution, respectively, corresponding to 147, 196 and 316 items km–2) in the Gulf of Lions, eastern Corsica, the eastern Adriatic Sea, the Argo-Saronic region and waters around southern Cyprus. Maximum densities were predicted in correspondence to the shallower depths and in proximity to populated areas (distance from the ports). Surface currents and local water circulation with cyclonic and anticyclonic eddies were identified as drivers likely facilitating the sinking to the bottoms of floating debris.

Peacebuilding Strategies in Conflict Societies Through Art Education: Cyprus

The purpose of this study is to include the evaluation of teacher opinions concerning the acquisition of peace culture by students through art education programs applied in Northern and Southern Cyprus. The study is patterned according to qualitative research method and is performed with focus group interview. The research included 10 secondary school (K12) 7th grade visual arts course teachers in total form both Northern Cypriot Turkish community (n=5) and Southern Cypriot Greek community (n=5). In the study, semi-structured interview form was used in obtaining the opinions of teachers. Teachers stated that they believed that acquisition of peace culture awareness by students through art education which would result in individual and social peace. They also displayed that families had a very important role to play in the popularization of peace culture through art education and that school administration and ministries were determinant in this respect. In addition, teachers added that in both communities education institutions did not play their part adequately in the popularization of peace culture in education.