Turkey has reacted to Greece’s new Special Spatial Planning Framework for Industry and the Supply Chain, saying the plan has “no legal consequences” for Turkey while reiterating its longstanding claims concerning the status of certain “geographical formations” in the Aegean Sea.
Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson Öncü Keçeli addressed the Greek framework in a statement on Friday, August 28, focusing on the fact that the plan also covers the Aegean.
“The Special Spatial Planning Framework for Industry and the Supply Chain, announced today (August 28) by Greece and which also covers the Aegean Sea, will have no legal consequences for our country in the context of the interconnected issues between the two countries concerning the Aegean,” Keçeli said.
Ankara refers to “geographical formations”
Keçeli also referred to what Turkey describes as “geographical formations whose sovereignty has not been transferred to Greece through international agreements.”
The wording revives longstanding Turkish claims concerning sovereignty issues in the Aegean.
At the same time, the Turkish Foreign Ministry referred to the Athens Declaration on Friendly Relations and Good-Neighbourliness, which Greece and Turkey signed on December 7, 2023.
Turkey said the two countries should continue to approach their relations within the framework established by the declaration.
“As Turkey, we maintain our position that an approach consistent with the Athens Declaration on Friendly Relations and Good-Neighbourliness of December 7, 2023, should be adopted,” Keçeli said.
Ankara also expressed its readiness to cooperate with Athens.
Keçeli concluded by saying Turkey remains “always ready to cooperate with Greece as one of the two coastal states of the Aegean Sea.”
What Greece’s new framework provides
Greece’s new Special Spatial Planning Framework for Industry comes 17 years after the approval of the previous planning framework.
The government aims to establish a unified spatial plan for productive development, introduce clearer rules for investment and gradually shift industrial activity away from scattered development towards organised forms of spatial planning.
Industry and supply chains under one plan
One of the framework’s main changes brings industrial production and logistics into a single planning approach rather than focusing solely on the location of individual industrial activities.
The government aims to strengthen supply security, outward-oriented economic activity and the resilience of Greece’s productive base.
Business Parks receive particular attention under the new framework. The plan calls for a review of their regulatory framework, with the aim of simplifying approval and management procedures and accelerating approvals for new and existing parks.
Priority for critical raw materials
The framework also prioritises investments linked to critical and strategic raw materials, aiming to strengthen energy security and strategic autonomy.
It provides spatial support for industrial facilities, value chains and investments connected with these raw materials in line with the relevant European regulatory framework.
The plan also supports strategic industrial investments and projects of common European interest.
Greece seeks to curb scattered industrial development
A central objective involves directing productive activities towards organised locations, including Business Parks and other organised industrial areas, as well as areas where planning regulations permit industrial activity.
The framework seeks to restrict scattered development outside designated planning areas by imposing stricter spatial and environmental compatibility requirements.
The government aims to reduce conflicts between different land uses, upgrade existing industrial centres and, where necessary, allow their measured expansion.
New rules for Attica and Thessaloniki
The framework introduces specific provisions for Greece’s two major metropolitan areas.
In Attica and Thessaloniki, new industrial units will no longer be allowed to locate in scattered areas, with the framework directing new activities towards organised industrial zones.
The plan also provides for the modernisation of existing industrial areas, the rehabilitation of informal industrial concentrations and greater support for high-technology facilities.
Special provisions for Greece’s islands
The framework takes a different approach to the islands because of their particular environmental and spatial sensitivities.
It places emphasis on using local raw materials, developing synergies with agriculture and tourism, and meeting the islands’ basic production and supply needs.
The plan also seeks to prevent incompatible land uses and introduces spatial and environmental compatibility requirements.
The new framework includes provisions for environmental protection, climate resilience and the green transformation of production.
It promotes industrial symbiosis, more efficient use of resources and the circular economy, while also taking the availability of specialised workers into account.
Overall, the Greek government aims to create greater legal certainty for investment, link industry and logistics through spatial planning and shift industrial development away from scattered activity towards organised productive centres.
The Turkish response, meanwhile, places the new Greek framework within the broader and longstanding dispute between Athens and Ankara over the Aegean, while both sides continue to refer to the 2023 Athens Declaration as part of their framework for bilateral relations.
