who controls the aegean?

A battle of wits between Greece and Turkey 

The East Mediterranean is undergoing a cosmogony due to Europe's need for Gas 

The war on Ukraine has increasingly made it difficult to purchase cheap Gas  because of USA led sanctions against Russia. As a result the Europeans have started to look for other sources of Hydrocarbons that will come from the USA, the Middle East and the East Mediterranean. This has brought forward claims of ownership between Greece and Turkey with opposing views and tensions as to who owns the resources of the East Mediterranean.                                                                                                                   

As a result the recently signed memorandum of “calm waters” between the two countries has been negated by Turkey’s aggressive actions in the Aegean. Turkey has employed its old friend “the NAVTEX” to declare its will to claim ownership of part of Aegean waters. For those who don’t know what NAVTEX is, according to Google AI:                   

In maritime contexts, NAVTEX (NAVegational TEXt) is an international, automated medium-frequency service that provides ships with essential Marine Safety Information (MSI), including weather forecasts, navigational warnings, and search and rescue notices.                                                                                                                                    

So each signatory country to this service is allocated a portion of sea area to control and issue warnings to International shipping.  The organisation overseeing this system is the IHO (International Hydrographic Organisation) which has 102 member states including Greece and Turkey. As a result the two countries are obliged to control their portion of maritime area. The IHO has drawn and published detailed maps of the areas allocated to each country and these are easily checked by anybody. We show below the map referring to the East Mediterranean.

The map was published after the meeting of  THE NAVAREA III NAVTEX SERVICE NATIONAL CO-ORDINATORS MEETING IHB, PRINCIPALITY OF MONACO, 18-19 JANUARY 2006.

Let's explain the map:

Red lines: The lines enclosing a country's area of control.

Red dots: The stations which issue NAVTEX.  

By closing-in we can see that there are three areas of responsibility of Greece.                

Lemnos for North Aegean 

Heraklion for South Aeggean 

Corfu for South Adriatic and Ionian Seas                                                                                                           

The Turkish areas of NAVTEX issuing are as follows:                                                         

Istanbul

: Serves the Sea of Marmara and western Black Sea.                                                 

Samsun

: Covers the Black Sea.                                                                                               

Izmir

: Broadcasts for the Aegean Sea.                                                                                   

Antalya

: Provides warnings for the Mediterranean Sea.

It is, therefore, not possible for Turkey to issue NAVTEX for areas in Greece's responsibility; no ifs no buts no coconuts.

I do hope that Turkish officials see this post because, obviously, they don't teach this in the  Turkish education system

Sources

GOOGLE AI overview on  NAVTEX meaning in maritime

https://www.google.com/search?q=navtex+meaning+in+maritime&oq=NAVTEX+MEANING&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqBwgBEAAYgAQyBwgAEAAYgAQyBwgBEAAYgAQyCAgCEAAYFhgeMggIAxAAGBYYHjIICAQQABgWGB4yCAgFEAAYFhgeMggIBhAAGBYYHjIICAcQABgWGB4yDQgIEAAYhgMYgAQYigUyDQgJEAAYhgMYgAQYigXSAQozMzI3NWowajE1qAIIsAIB8QUdsYfxk3WzJfEFHbGH8ZN1syU&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

GOOGLE AI: 

https://www.google.com/search?q=turkish+navtex+issuing+stations&num=10&sca_esv=efbb7c509a58d99b&sxsrf=AE3TifOImPX2jj52fcCMnFoGZ5Rx-XT7_g%3A1759659219746&udm=50&fbs=AIIjpHxU7SXXniUZfeShr2fp4giZ1Y6MJ25_tmWITc7uy4KIeqDdErwP5rACeJAty2zADJgYJpo1blvMpITBRgbnARM6y8KwxzRsF24u6g33NutBQiYU4YYg2NVY9oewD6JMcYBKargMsgCi4cL08u6SynE_cy-05ouuwN6iQirrv5M9n70PIysVTl7Iu_TGD_Sddr0p2qNgSo3BfXOJ_vI1AD3GRn5E_w&aep=1&ntc=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiHud-16YyQAxWBXkEAHZQrIgsQ2J8OegQIDxAE&biw=1451&bih=727&dpr=1.25&mtid=3ETiaLT9K46FhbIP1N31kQw&mstk=AUtExfDemSDHZzs8p_Su18jZy_H9JqNByXT-R6k00d2Y9VeWlY3DUtnMAcCagTi8cCD_nq63sPnyehPdMLj6KzJel2P3m8tBLM7h3ZbX90icQDd26EmnIGOgHu8Kf1RkwThHs3SZjlZh78j1GOIgi6F86ZTfY8poSMDMBsibJq8ildpcawAoqtnLTqmCgWEHbz3iGjf9CW8yCc2jCfDOOU_Ar9tf6DAYQIUbKzA2kLSbcyvoau_k2wWcqzmU9ysbKNdsP5wiELaLOFXvIxfQW-THXSxnFFqOIO1fuSKTmswtXQLAg2a20quaPcPJBsyldiKPqf0cI7YFQgYqqg&csuir=1

NAVAREA 3: 

https://www.google.com/search?q=What+is+NAVAREA+III&num=10&sca_esv=25c2551b4f45e1f2&sxsrf=AE3TifPda5QldI7YFE7gHDV4t5O-zHHiag%3A1759486036989&ei=VKDfaLGQPJCphbIP2b3xiAY&ved=0ahUKEwixiuOh5IeQAxWQVEEAHdleHGEQ4dUDCBA&uact=5&oq=What+is+NAVAREA+III&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiE1doYXQgaXMgTkFWQVJFQSBJSUkyCBAAGIAEGKIEMggQABiABBiiBDIIEAAYgAQYogQyCBAAGIAEGKIESLAjUKQNWP8dcAF4AZABAJgBuAGgAdcHqgEDMy41uAEDyAEA-AEBmAIJoAKWCMICChAAGLADGNYEGEfCAgcQIxiwAhgnwgIHEAAYgAQYDcICCBAAGAcYCB]gewgIGEAAYDRgewgIIEAAYogQYiQXCAgUQABjvBcICBBAhGAqYAwCIBgGQBgiSBwMzLjagB8QqsgcDMi42uAeHCMIHBzAuMy40LjLIByw&sclient=gws-wiz-serp

 Map of IHO Member States: 

https://iho.int/en/map-of-member-states

MINUTES OF THE NAVAREA III NAVTEX SERVICE NATIONAL CO-ORDINATORS MEETING IHB, PRINCIPALITY OF MONACO, 18-19 JANUARY 2006 

https://iho.int/uploads/user/Inter-Regional%20Coordination/WWNWS/Relevant%20MSI%20Publications%20and%20Documents/English/NAVAREA3_Navtex_Mtg_Report.pdf