Turkey establishes two Aegean marine national parks, drawing Greek protest

On 15 August 2026, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan signed two presidential decrees establishing new marine national parks in the Aegean Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean. The decrees were published the following day in Turkey’s Official Gazette. Greece’s Foreign Ministry immediately rejected the designations, stating that they have no legal effect wherever they extend beyond Turkish territorial waters.

Details of the new parks

Fethiye-Kaş Marine National Park: covers 21,706.03 square kilometres stretching along the Turkish Mediterranean/Aegean coast between the Fethiye district of Muğla province and the Kaş district of Antalya province. It will be administered by the 4th and 6th regional directorates of the General Directorate of Nature Conservation and National Parks. According to Greek assessments, this zone encompasses a broad maritime area around the small Greek island of Kastellorizo (Megisti), which holds significant strategic weight in Eastern Mediterranean maritime disputes.

North Aegean Marine National Park: covers 1,742.14 square kilometres within the provincial waters of Çanakkale and Tekirdağ, centered on the Turkish island of Gökçeada (Imbros). It extends toward the maritime area between the Greek islands of Samothrace and Lemnos.

Mavi Vatan’da yeni hamle
▫️Fethiye-Kaş Deniz Milli Parkı
▫️Kuzey Ege Deniz Milli Parkı
Türkiye’nin Ege ve Akdeniz’deki Deniz Milli Parkı alanlarının sınırları belirlendi.
Muğla’nın Fethiye ve Antalya’nın Kaş ilçeleri açıklarındaki 21 bin 706,03 kilometrekarelik deniz alanı… pic.twitter.com/ApR96esltj
— Pars Plus (@Pars_Pluss) August 17, 2026

Both decrees invoke Article 3 of Turkey’s Law No. 2873 on National Parks as their legal foundation. Combined, the two parks protect roughly 23,448 square kilometres of marine area – an expansion of Turkey’s marine conservation footprint. Turkish sources frame the move as aimed at safeguarding marine ecosystems and biodiversity.

Greece’s official response

Greece’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement on 16 August declaring that the parks produce “absolutely no legal effect.” Athens argued that:

No state may unilaterally establish marine protected areas in international waters or outside its national jurisdiction under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
The designations are illegal to the extent they overlap areas of Greece’s claimed continental shelf.
Unilateral actions cannot create a fait accompli or alter rights under international law.

Greece contrasted this with its own marine parks (announced earlier in the Ionian Sea and southern Aegean/Cyclades), which it insists remain strictly within Greek territorial waters and fully compliant with the Law of the Sea.

Broader context and ongoing disputes

The Turkish decrees come amid a period of reciprocal moves on marine spatial planning. Greece established its own national marine parks in 2025 (Ionian and Southern Cyclades) and has been advancing further planning in the South Aegean. Turkey had previously criticized those steps as politically motivated attempts to alter the status quo in the Aegean rather than pure environmental measures.

The new parks also precede the expected parliamentary consideration (potentially in October 2026) of Turkey’s “Blue Homeland” (Mavi Vatan) maritime jurisdiction legislation, which seeks to codify broader Turkish claims in the Aegean, Eastern Mediterranean, and Black Sea. Neither side has advanced a joint framework for resolving the underlying disagreements over maritime boundaries, continental shelves, exclusive economic zones, and the legal status of certain islands, islets, and rocks.

Türkiye's Blue Homeland maritime bill will not reach parliament before October. The delay is procedural, sources say, but Ankara's position has not changed. Greece and Cyprus are watching the calendar closely.
↳Bosphorus News https://t.co/94ZSquuL9y pic.twitter.com/E7zD8wBcQw
— BosphorusNews (@BosphorusNN) June 5, 2026

Turkey is not a party to UNCLOS, the primary international treaty Greece cites, which adds a layer of complexity to legal arguments on both sides. The exchange mirrors earlier statements by Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis emphasizing that unilateral actions under the law of the sea cannot create binding legal facts.

These developments form part of the long-running Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean maritime disputes between the two NATO allies, involving competing claims over resources, navigation, and jurisdiction. Environmental protection is presented by both governments as a legitimate goal, yet each views the other’s designations as carrying potential sovereignty implications.

The original article by EUalive’s partner Bosphoros News can be found here.

Caption: Undated photo od Turkish warship [Bosphorus News]