In Geopolitics Today - Wednesday, February 9th
Turkey Disputes Greek Sovereignty of East Aegean Islands, Government in Egypt Transfers Ownership of Islands to the Military, Russia Protests at Ukraine’s Request for THAAD from the US
Turkey Disputes Greek Sovereignty of East Aegean Islands
Turkey has made the decision to officially dispute Greece's claims over islands in the east Aegean, a move that threatens to once again ignite tensions between the two Mediterranean powers. The Turkish position was reportedly made in letters sent to the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres last July and September. According to Turkey’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Feridun Sinirlioglu, control over the Aegean islands was ceded to Greece on the condition the islands remain demilitarised, something Turkey asserts is no longer the case.
Greece absorbed the islands of Chios, Ikaria, Lesvos, Limnos, Samothrace and Samos from the Ottoman Empire in the Balkan Wars of 1912-13, the country was officially awarded sovereignty over the islands in the Treaty of Lausanne of 1923. While the Treaty of Lausanne stipulates that Greece cannot build naval bases, fortifications or large concentrations of troops on the islands, Greece did start positioning forces on the islands in the 1960s as relations with Turkey broke down following the 1974 Cypriot coup d'état and the following mobilisation of Turkish troops on the island. Each country currently has six nautical miles (11km) of territorial water in the Aegean, while the UN Convention on the International Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) allows states to claim up to 12 miles. Greece has said territorial water is a sovereign right under UNCLOS, while Turkey rejects UNCLOS having never ratified the agreement.
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Government in Egypt Transfers Ownership of Islands to the Military
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has issued a decree which will see the government in Cairo hand over the ownership of 37 islands to the Egyptian military. The decree covers 36 islands in the Nile River and one island off the Mediterranean coast, and was issued based on decree No. 1383, a legal framework formulated in 2005 which covers the environmental protection of the Nile River and its shores.
Although the Nile islands are nature reserves according to Egyptian law, the past years have witnessed successive governments attempt major investments into these islands. The Nile islands hold significant political and economic importance to Egypt, as the majority of the islands are located in the middle of the Nile River in the centre of Cairo, in the vicinity of the capital’s major public and private business areas. The move to transfer the ownership of the islands to the military follows other similar transfers of land from the government in Cairo to the armed forces of Egypt in recent years. In 2019, a resolution was issued which allocated 47 state-owned islands in the Red Sea to the Egyptian army based on the grounds that the land is of strategic military importance.
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Russia Protests at Ukraine’s Request for THAAD from the US
As tensions over Ukraine mount, and both Russia and Ukraine conduct their own respective military drills in close proximity, the potential transfer of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) advanced anti-air missile defence system from the United States to Ukraine has caused consternation in Russia.
Reports suggest that Ukraine has made a request for the US to position multiple THAAD systems around Kharkiv. The THAAD system is effective at countering short-, medium-, and intermediate-range ballistic missiles around strategic assets, and can be used as part of an integrated regional missile defence structure. If reports that Russia has deployed Iskander-M short-range ballistic missile systems in Belarus are correct, the potential transfer of the THAAD system would provide Ukraine with means to nullify any potential Iskander missile attacks. If such a transfer of technology does take place between Kiev and Washington, Moscow would have to adapt by deploying more advanced missile systems in pursuit of strategic stability. Russian officials have condemned the potential transfer of THAAD systems to Ukraine even before such moves have been announced, warning that any such deployment to Ukraine would be “stupid.”
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