(DIP) AEGEAN SEA UNITES TURKEY AND GREECE, TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTRY.ANKARA, Jul 15, 2009 (TUR tur: see ibex. ) -- Turkey regards the Aegean as a sea that unites Turkey and Greece, not as a source of confrontation, the Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday. "There are many problems regarding the Aegean, and they can be solved only if they are handled as a whole," ministry spokesperson Burak Ozugergin told a weekly press briefing in Ankara. Ozugergin said the new claims of Greece regarding the air space over the Aegean Sea Aegean Sea, Gr. Aigaion Pelagos, Turkish Ege Denizi, arm of the Mediterranean Sea, c.400 mi (640 km) long and 200 mi (320 km) wide, off SE Europe between Greece and Turkey; Crete and Rhodes mark its southern limit. can be solved when two countries see each other as "the two partners of the future", and reaffirmed that they are heading towards a partnership in the European Union European Union (EU), name given since the ratification (Nov., 1993) of the Treaty of European Union, or Maastricht Treaty, to the European Community (EU). "We discuss our problems with good will and bring the issues on which we have reached a compromise to the third parties," Ozugergin said. The spokesperson also said that there was a mutual compromise on some issues concerning the Aegean, but there were also many problems connected to each other. "It is not possible to solve these issues by handling them in pieces; i.e., it is not possible for us to solve all problems completely this way," Ozugergin said. Ozugergin said that it could be seen that problems could be solved if handled as a whole when the international legal structure and the provisions regarding the Aegean were taken into consideration. The spokesperson said Turkey and Greece continued exploratory talks, and expressed Turkey's belief that the current problem could not be solved by causing tension. "We will sit down and solve it," he said. The islands, islets and rocks in the Aegean which were not ceded to Greece by international treaties; the decision of Greece to broaden its territorial waters territorial waters: see waters, territorial. territorial waters Waters under the sovereign jurisdiction of a nation or state, including both marginal sea and inland waters. over 6 nautical nau·ti·cal adj. Of, relating to, or characteristic of ships, shipping, sailors, or navigation on a body of water. [From Latin nauticus, from Greek nautikos, from miles; continental shelf; air space; the flight information region; and demilitarization de·mil·i·ta·rize tr.v. de·mil·i·ta·rized, de·mil·i·ta·riz·ing, de·mil·i·ta·riz·es 1. To eliminate the military character of. 2. of islands are the top Aegean problems between Turkey and Greece. Turkey believes that all problems should be addressed as a whole together within the whole range of means for their peaceful solutions that are set forth in in Article 33 of the UN Charter while Greece advocates that there is no problem in the Aegean between Turkey and Greece other than the delimitation of the continental shelf which should be resolved only through recourse to International Court of Justice. (THROUGH ASIA Asia (ā`zhə), the world's largest continent, 17,139,000 sq mi (44,390,000 sq km), with about 3.3 billion people, nearly three fifths of the world's total population. PULSE) |
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