Turkey continues to play games challenging Greek sovereignty and sovereign rights in the Aegean Sea, focusing in recent days on Search and Rescue operations.
After the incident with the collision of two cargo ships in Chios on Friday, one of which was of Turkish interests that refused the assistance of the Greek authorities and the clearly illegal NAVTEX of Ankara for the search and rescue of the American citizen who was missing east of Agios Stratos on Tuesday, Ankara continued its "games" in the Aegean on Wednesday.
The Turkish Coast Guard corvette GUVEN after the completion of the Search and Rescue operation east of Agios Stratis with the discovery of the body of the man who appears to have fallen from the sailboat into the sea, instead of returning to its port in Istanbul and specifically the port of Tuzla, as declared, continued to sail south to the Cyclades, sailing as it seems to be heading for the Askazas naval station opposite Rhodes.
In the area of Psara she even turned off her transmitter which makes her visible to conventional means and platforms such as marinetraffic. Legally sailing in international waters the Turkish coast guard corvette is legal however according to analysts who spoke to Pentapostagma, this is a clear display of flag and power by Turkey showing off the large size of its coast guard vessels along the 25th meridian.
At the same time, Pentapostagram reveals that last Friday in the Chios incident, the Turks were prepared to use their mini aircraft carrier Anadolu. The Turkish flagship while sailing west of Lesvos turned towards the area of the Chios incident. But fortunately seeing the Greek mobilization, the Turks returned to their course.
Ankara has begun to move dynamically again by putting forward its position on the issue of Search and Rescue operations in the Aegean, especially up to the 25th meridian, something it has reminded us of with the map released by the Turkish Ministry of Transport.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, international agreements provide for the competence of search and rescue in the Aegean Sea:
Search and rescue for air accidents is governed by Annex 12 of the 1944 Chicago Convention and the ICAO Rules and Recommendations. The Greek area of responsibility for search and rescue in the event of air accidents has been defined by a periodic air navigation agreement within the framework of an ICAO Conference in 1952 and coincides with the Athens FIR.
As regards search and rescue in the event of maritime accidents, Greece has been coordinating these operations within the Athens FIR since its creation in the 1950s. Greece's assumption of responsibilities for maritime search and rescue within the Athens FIR reflects the geographical reality in the region, given the scattered Greek islands in the Aegean Sea, which allow for the most immediate, rapid and effective, from an operational point of view, provision of services for the protection of human life at sea. Moreover, this is also in line with the relevant IMO and ICAO recommendations on the need for Search and Rescue areas, both for air and maritime accidents, to coincide with the boundaries of FIRs.
Greece declared in 1975 its area of responsibility for maritime search and rescue to the Intergovernmental Maritime Consultative Organisation (IMCO), the predecessor of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO). Furthermore, both at the time of signing and ratifying the Hamburg Convention of 1979, which regulates maritime search and rescue issues and was adopted within the IMO, Greece declared that its area of responsibility coincides with the Athens FIR, a statement which was included in the law by which the said International Convention was incorporated into the Greek legal order in 1989 (Law 1844/1989).
It is noted that the Hamburg Convention provides that the areas of responsibility of the Contracting Parties for the provision of search and rescue services in the event of maritime accidents shall be determined by agreement between the coastal States concerned. In this context, Greece has signed agreements on cooperation in maritime search and rescue matters with Italy (2000), Malta (2008) and Cyprus (2014), which explicitly state that the Greek area of responsibility coincides with the Athens FIR, while similar agreements are pending with other neighbouring states.
Nevertheless, in 1988, Turkey issued Regulation 1988/13559 (as amended by Regulation 2001/3275), by which it defined as its area of responsibility for search and rescue services, without specifying whether it concerns naval or even air accidents, an area which, in addition to the Istanbul and Ankara FIRs, includes part of the Athens FIR up to about the middle of the Aegean Sea, trapping a large part of Greek territory within the Turkish search and rescue area. In October 2020, Turkey with its newest Regulation (3095/2020), which explicitly refers to search and rescue for accidents involving both maritime and air assets, extended its area of responsibility for search and rescue in the Mediterranean - within the Athens FIR - westwards to the 26th meridian, touching the external territorial waters of the eastern coast of Crete, occupying an even larger part of Greek territory. e.g. the islands of Kasos and Karpathos) and the Greek search and rescue area.
This Turkish action, i.e. the inclusion of Greek islands, Greek territorial waters and Greek airspace in the Turkish search and rescue area, clearly violates the sovereignty of Greece and the relevant international conventions.
And the inclusion of part of the Athens FIR in the Turkish area of responsibility, apart from lacking operational effectiveness, violates Greek competences assigned by ICAO.
It also contradicts the general international practice, as well as the recommendations of IMO and ICAO, contained in the International Aeronautical and Maritime Search and Rescue Manual (IAMSAR Manual), which advocate the adoption of identical areas for the provision of search and rescue services in maritime and air accidents. Similarly, Annex 12 to the Chicago Convention recommends that search and rescue areas should coincide with the boundaries of FIRs.
It is clear from the above that any Turkish objections in this regard serve specific political purposes that have nothing to do with humanitarian search and rescue operations. And the more recent (October 2020) expansion of the Turkish search and rescue area in the Eastern Mediterranean, so that it coincides with the boundaries of the new expansive Turkish narrative of the "Blue Homeland", demonstrates that Turkey is using search and rescue as another vehicle to promote its revisionist and expansionist ambitions in maritime zones beyond any concept of international law.
In any case, it is noted that in practice, Greece, through the competent Greek Joint Rescue Coordination Center (JRCC) in Piraeus, effectively coordinates all search and rescue operations, providing services to all ships and planes in distress within the Greek area of responsibility.
