Türkiye and the TRNC are not parties to UNCLOS but they have the right to declare an EEZ..!

 The riparian states of the Eastern Mediterranean are attempting to declare an Exclusive Economic Zone to explore and exploit hydrocarbon resources. A coastal state can declare an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) without being a party to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982 UNCLOS). Türkiye and the TRNC are not parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982 UNCLOS), they have the right to declare an Exclusive Economic Zone.

Although Turkey is not a party to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, it is aware that the provisions of the contract have also become customary due to the fact that many countries are party to it and implement the rules of the said convention. Customs, which are a direct source of international law, are as effective and binding as international agreements, and since Turkey is customary law, it applies many of its articles and rules. Approximately 30 countries, including the USA, Colombia, Israel, Peru, Venezuela and Turkey, are not yet parties to the Convention.

It is also of great importance for Türkiye to determine the borders of the Exclusive Economic Zone and to direct its policies and practices in the Eastern Mediterranean according to these borders. Policies are needed to integrate with the declaration of the Exclusive Economic Zone. In the new policy to be determined, two options are on the table;

The first is to search for hydrocarbons within their Exclusive Economic Zones, which the Republic of Turkey and the TRNC will declare separately as independent states.

The second is to conduct hydrocarbon explorations in the new Exclusive Economic Zone, which will be announced by focusing on the integration of the TRNC with Turkey from next year, taking into account the changing international conditions.

In both cases, priority should be given to the exploration of potential resources in our marine area. It is a fact that we have not done much exploration and exploration in the deep seas and we have neglected our seas until now. This is more true for the Eastern Mediterranean. An oil and natural gas exploration campaign should be launched to cover all our sea areas, both by developing our own opportunities and by partnering with foreign companies with deep-sea exploration technology.

Sovereign rights and powers

The continental shelf and the Exclusive Economic Zone grant the coastal state sovereign rights and powers over natural resources. The prevailing rule at this point is the principle of "the land dominates the sea". In other words, states have sovereign rights and powers in the sea areas adjacent to their coasts because they are on the coast of the sea.

The Greek Cypriot Administration's refusal to recognize the TRNC as a legitimate political authority, while the TRNC and Turkey reject the Greek Cypriot Administration's claim that the island has sole say, even if the EU and other relevant international actors do not accept the TRNC as a state. Despite accepting the rights of the Turkish existence in the island, the fact that they only made treaties with the Greek Cypriot Administration in violation of the rights of the Turkish Cypriots in matters concerning the entire island, the division of the Eastern Mediterranean maritime areas has become a part of the sovereignty issue over the island, rather than being a mere maritime issue.

According to the Permanent Sovereignty Decision of the United Nations General Assembly on natural resources of 1962, it is said that natural resources belong to the peoples and nations living in that country, and states are never mentioned. In this sense, it is absolutely unacceptable for the Greek Cypriot Administration to usurp the rights of the Turkish Cypriots with its so-called EEZ, which it unilaterally declared illegally.

The essence of the maritime jurisdiction issue in the Eastern Mediterranean;

Just as the Greek Cypriots usurped the Republic of Cyprus by force of arms in 1963 and transformed it into a unitary Greek state, today it is a matter of legitimizing this situation by usurping the Exclusive Economic Zone areas around the Island of Cyprus in the same way.

The Greek Cypriot Administration has no legal right to declare an Exclusive Economic Zone unilaterally. If there is more than one state and more than one people in a place, especially the disputed state cannot unilaterally declare an Exclusive Economic Zone on its own.

If the Republic of Cyprus were a single state on the island then it could have declared an Exclusive Economic Zone. As of the current situation, there are de facto 3 separate states belonging to Turkish, Greek and British on the island of Cyprus. The issue here is the fact that the Turkish Cypriots (1960) were expelled from the Republic of Cyprus, of which they were founding partners, by force of arms in 1963 and that the said state turned into a unitary Greek state. The state known as the Republic of Cyprus does not belong to the Greeks alone.

The EU ignores Turkey in the Eastern Mediterranean and accepts Greece and the Greek Cypriot Administration as an integrated geographical area. The route chosen by the Greeks in the Eastern Mediterranean is a dead end. They do not have the legal right to evaluate and develop any natural gas resources unilaterally around the island. The indispensable condition for Turkey and the TRNC's Energy Plans Strategy to successfully achieve its goals for the Eastern Mediterranean is its integration in the Mediterranean and the declaration of an "Exclusive Economic Zone".

First of all, the countries we call the West, the EU, have plans to remove Turkey from the Mediterranean. For this purpose, let's take a look at the Mediterranean exclusive economic maritime borders maps, which are tried to be imposed on Turkey by the West and Greece, which they use as puppet, and which Turkey is right to insist on. 

As you can see from the maps; The exclusive economic space that Turkey, which is among the countries with the most coasts to the Mediterranean, should have, is tragically-comicly desired to be given to Greek Cyprus and Greece. Thus, it is desired to prevent Turkey from doing oil exploration in the Mediterranean or benefiting from the mentioned Mediterranean's large hydrocarbon deposits, and more importantly, Turkey's ability to use the international waters of the Mediterranean.

By developing strategies that do not leave its job to chance, Turkey also realizes its dream of going to the warm seas by holding the oil and natural gas resources of the region.