One of the issues that occupied the last days of a tense pre-election period in Israel was an agreement on the delimitation of the border. exclusive economic zones (AEZ) between Israel and Lebanon through the mediation of the United States. The agreement is unlikely to be affected by any change in the political balance in Israel, but its recent ratification brings the EEZ issue back to the fore in Eastern Mediterranean.

The most important unresolved issues in the Eastern Mediterranean concern Turkey which does not seek demarcation with neighboring countries, but insists on a demarcation signed by it with the government of Tripoli. “There is a huge problem between the 26th and 28th meridian as there is also an illegal demarcation line between Turkey and Libya,” explains Mr. Petros Liakourasprofessor of international law at the University of Piraeus, as he emphasizes that this coincides with the delimitation of the EEZ between Greece and Egypt.

legal difference

“There is a legal dispute. All states accept our [οριοθέτηση]Turkey is trying to impose its own”, but this only obliges the contracting states, says Mr. Liakouras and emphasizes that “there is no region with such similar problems”.

Existing agreements include those between Cyprus and Egypt in 2003, between Cyprus and Israel in 2010, the aforementioned agreement between Greece and Egypt in 2020, and the current official border delimitation between Israel and Lebanon, an important factor paving the way for ratification. Cyprus. – The Lebanese Agreement, signed in 2007, but never ratified by the latter country. “From 2007-2010 until today, Lebanon has lost precious time during which it did not exploit the area based on the original agreement,” said Mr. Liakouras, explaining that Lebanon then opted to abstain when it found that the middle ground had been reached . line up the line between adjacent states incorrectly instead of trying to correct a mistake.

Lebanese President Michel Aoun has reportedly already asked his Cypriot counterpart Nikos Anastasiades to resolve these disputes.

“In the Cypriot EEZ with Israel and Lebanon, the amount of claims is determined by the principle of the middle line,” states Mr. Liakouras. These agreements clearly contradict the data regarding Turkey and respect for the claims of Cyprus.

“Turkey has made a demarcation with the occupied territories, illegal in every respect,” and has also questioned the areas around Cyprus, Mr. Liakouras said. “That creates a problem.”

Turkish challenge

“Turkey is putting forward a very extreme argument that in the west Cyprus cannot have rights”, although “in the north, with a slight adjustment, it takes the median line,” he emphasizes, also demonstrating the inconsistency of the Turkish position regarding the influence of the islands in the EEZ demarcation .

“There have been some movements for the revenues that exist in these fields. [εντός της κυπριακής ΑΟΖ] to be able to share with the interest to be found with the Turkish Cypriot community. It remains to be seen whether the distribution will be made before or after the solution of the Cyprus problem,” says the professor, explaining that many believe that the distribution of income should be done after the solution, in order to motivate the Turkish Cypriot community to return to a realistic dialogue and others that it is needs to be done now to give new impetus.