Aegean Sea | 27 Oct 2022

Key Points

• Physical Geography:
  • It is an arm of the Mediterranean Sea. It is located in the East Mediterranean Basin with the Greek peninsula to its west and Anatolia (consisting of the Asian side of Turkey) to its east.
  • The Aegean is connected through the straits of the Dardanelles, the Sea of Marmara, and the Bosphorus to the Black Sea, while the island of Crete can be taken as marking its boundary on the south.
• Turkey-Greece Dispute:
  • The Aegean Sea maritime dispute comprises three main issues: the breadth of the territorial sea; the presence of islands; and the delimitation of the continental shelves between the two States.
  • Since 1936, Greece has claimed a 6 nautical-mile (nm) territorial sea. Turkey also claims a 6-nm territorial sea in the Aegean. However, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982 (UNCLOS) allows States to extend their territorial sea up to 12 nm from the shore.
  • Greece has adopted the Convention, but Turkey has not, holding different approaches in different regions.
  • Related Treaty: Treaty of Lausanne of 1923.