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Greece Seeks to Extend Western Frontiers to Secure Economic Exploitation

Anthee Carassava

   ATHENS - Greece's government has presented a bill to parliament that
   doubles the country's territorial waters along its western frontiers,
   allowing it to exploit untapped energy reserves that can boost its
   ailing economy. Greece wants to also expand its frontiers along its
   eastern borders, in the Aegean but its neighbor, Turkey, rejects the
   move, saying it would spell war. Still, the two NATO allies, that have
   seen relations plummet dangerously in the last year over energy rights,
   are gearing for a fresh effort at exploratory talks to sort out their
   differences.

   In presenting the bill for ratification by parliament, Foreign Minister
   Nikos Dendias said it marked a historic moment for the country, part of
   a bigger attempt to shield its sovereign interests as Greece and Turkey
   remain locked in a dangerous standoff over energy and maritime rights
   in the eastern Mediterranean.

   The bill is the result of years of negotiations between Greece and
   Italy, redefining their maritime boundaries and establishing an
   exclusive economic zone that allows Athens to now survey the Ionian
   waterway and seabed that divides Greece and Italy for up to 19
   kilometers from Greece's western coast.

   That's twice as much as before.

   A similar agreement is also being sought out with Albania which
   recently agreed to take the maritime case to arbitration at the
   international court at The Hague -- something which Greece has also
   been trying to convince Turkey to do to sort out long-standing
   differences involving the Aegean Sea, an oil-and minerals-rich waterway
   that divides the two NATO allies.

   Bent on exploring untapped gas and oil reserves in the seabed that
   surrounds Greece, Athens has long been keen to extend its borders along
   its eastern frontiers -- a move that Turkey has been strongly
   resisting, saying that any such designs would choke off its access to
   the Aegean, turning the waterway into somewhat of a Greek lake.

   Ankara has warned that any decision by Athens to extend territorial
   rights in the Aegean would spark war -- a threat Greece is reluctant to
   ignore, especially after the two NATO allies came to the brink of an
   all-out conflict in that exact waterway just 20 years ago.

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