{"id":19127,"date":"2026-08-08T19:12:48","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T19:12:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/08\/turkey-revives-gray-zones-claim-over-greeces-tourism-spatial-plan-greek-city-times\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T19:12:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T19:12:48","slug":"turkey-revives-gray-zones-claim-over-greeces-tourism-spatial-plan-greek-city-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/08\/turkey-revives-gray-zones-claim-over-greeces-tourism-spatial-plan-greek-city-times\/","title":{"rendered":"Turkey Revives \u201cGray Zones\u201d Claim Over Greece\u2019s Tourism Spatial Plan \u2013 Greek City Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-first=\"S\">\n<h4 id=\"h-turkey-has-renewed-its-challenge-to-greek-sovereignty-in-the-aegean-sea-using-greece-s-newly-approved-special-spatial-framework-for-tourism-as-the-latest-pretext\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Turkey has renewed its challenge to Greek sovereignty in the Aegean Sea, using Greece\u2019s newly approved Special Spatial Framework for Tourism as the latest pretext.<\/h4>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"h-ankara-invokes-gray-zones-theory\">Ankara Invokes \u201cGray Zones\u201d Theory<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In an official statement, the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs referred to \u201cgeographical features whose sovereignty has not been granted to Greece through international treaties\u201d \u2014 language that directly revives Ankara\u2019s long-standing \u201cgray zones\u201d theory regarding certain islands and islets in the Aegean.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-x wp-block-embed-x\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"tr\" dir=\"ltr\">Yunanistan Taraf\u0131ndan \u0130lan Edilen Turizm \u00d6zel Mekansal \u00c7er\u00e7evesi Hakk\u0131nda:<\/p>\n<p>Yunanistan taraf\u0131ndan bug\u00fcn (7 A\u011fustos) Ege Denizi\u2019ni de kapsayacak \u015fekilde ilan edilen Turizm \u00d6zel Mekansal \u00c7er\u00e7evesi, aidiyeti uluslararas\u0131 antla\u015fmalarla Yunanistan\u2019a devredilmemi\u015f co\u011frafi formasyonlar\u2026<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 \u00d6nc\u00fc Ke\u00e7eli | D\u0131\u015fi\u015fleri Bakanl\u0131\u011f\u0131 S\u00f6zc\u00fcs\u00fc (@oncukeceli) <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/oncukeceli\/status\/2085741556594557301?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 7, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Turkey declared that the Greek spatial plan \u201cwill have no legal consequences for Turkey\u201d and accused Athens of attempting to instrumentalize environmental protection for political purposes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"h-warning-against-unilateral-actions\">Warning Against Unilateral Actions<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ankara further warned that \u201cunilateral actions should be avoided in enclosed or semi-enclosed seas such as the Aegean and the Mediterranean,\u201d arguing that international maritime law encourages cooperation among coastal states on environmental matters.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"h-call-for-dialogue-under-athens-declaration\">Call for Dialogue Under Athens Declaration<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The statement concluded by reiterating Turkey\u2019s readiness to cooperate with Greece and calling for a \u201csincere and comprehensive approach\u201d to resolve outstanding issues on the basis of international law, equity, and good neighborliness, within the framework of the Athens Declaration of December 7, 2023.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"h-full-turkish-foreign-ministry-statement\"><strong>Full Turkish Foreign Ministry statement:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe Special Spatial Framework for Tourism announced today (August 7) by Greece, which also covers the Aegean Sea, will have no legal consequences for Turkey within the context of the interrelated Aegean issues between the two countries, including certain geographical features whose sovereignty was not transferred to Greece through international treaties.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In this context, we once again emphasize that efforts to instrumentalize universal values \u2014 such as environmental protection \u2014 for political purposes are futile and will in no way affect Turkey\u2019s long-standing legal position.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Unilateral actions should be avoided in enclosed or semi-enclosed seas such as the Aegean and the Mediterranean. International maritime law encourages cooperation among coastal states in such seas, including on environmental matters. In this regard, we reiterate that Turkey, as one of the two Aegean coastal states, remains ready to cooperate with Greece.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Within the framework of the Athens Declaration on Friendly Relations and Good Neighbourliness of December 7, 2023, Turkey maintains its position that a sincere and comprehensive approach must be adopted to resolve issues on the basis of international law, equity, and good neighborliness.\u201d<\/p>\n<footer class=\"article-tags entry-footer\">\n<\/footer><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/greekcitytimes.com\/2026\/08\/08\/turkey-revives-gray-zones-claim-greek-tourism-spatial-plan\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Turkey has renewed its challenge to Greek sovereignty in the Aegean Sea, using Greece\u2019s newly approved Special Spatial Framework for Tourism as the latest pretext. Ankara Invokes \u201cGray Zones\u201d Theory In an official statement, the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs referred to \u201cgeographical features whose sovereignty has not been granted to Greece through international treaties\u201d &#8230; <\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more-container\"><a title=\"Turkey Revives \u201cGray Zones\u201d Claim Over Greece\u2019s Tourism Spatial Plan \u2013 Greek City Times\" class=\"read-more button\" href=\"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/08\/turkey-revives-gray-zones-claim-over-greeces-tourism-spatial-plan-greek-city-times\/#more-19127\" aria-label=\"Read more about Turkey Revives \u201cGray Zones\u201d Claim Over Greece\u2019s Tourism Spatial Plan \u2013 Greek City Times\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19128,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/greekcitytimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Greece-Turkey-Border-Evros-1_upscale-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","no-featured-image-padding"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19127\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}