The Aegean Sea is located in the north-eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea, surrounded by the coasts of Turkey and Greece. Its unique geographical structure, the presence of a large number of different islands, the historical development of inter-state relations and the international treaties, adopted to regulate this maritime area, have led to one of the most complex cases of potential delimitation of maritime zones in the field of the law of the sea. The aim of this master's thesis is to present the international dispute between Greece and Turkey in the Aegean Sea with an emphasis on the law of the sea, to address the most important outstanding and unresolved issues between the two countries (i.e. the width and delimitation of the territorial sea, the airspace above the territorial sea, the flight information region, the search and rescue zones, the delimitation of the EEZ and the continental shelf, the sovereignty over certain Aegean islands and the demilitarisation of the Eastern Aegean islands), and to outline the positions of each of the two countries with regard to these issues.
The role of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in this dispute is also interesting. It is an international treaty that comprehensively regulates the law of the sea, its adoption represents an important development in the law of the sea and international law in general. Greece, as a state party, refers to its norms for the delimitation of the territorial sea, the exclusive economic zone and the continental shelf in the Aegean Sea, while Turkey is one of the few States of the international community that has not acceded to this international treaty. This means that it is not bound by its legal provisions in the settlement of the Aegean dispute, with the exception of those which have the character of customary international law, if it does not refer to being the persistent objector in their application. However, even those UNCLOS norms which have been transformed into customary international law often do not provide sufficiently clear and effective solutions for the delimitation of the disputed maritime areas of the Aegean Sea. Turkey and Greece are bound by the general principle of the peaceful settlement of disputes from the Charter of the United Nations and are free to choose among all options available under international law for peaceful settlement of their dispute. For now none of the existing international courts or tribunals has legal basis to adjudicate on this dispute. This can only happen if the two countries unanimously decide to settle this dispute in court, or if they reach an agreement on the unsolved issues themselves. The fate of a particular dispute therefore depends primarily on the political will of the parties in dispute.
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