Thodoros Kariotis: Who cares about the map of Seville – Here are the official maps of the EU

The famous map of Seville, which a lot of fuss has been made about in the media recently, is a study by a professor from the university of the same name in 2003. On this map, he showed the boundaries of the sea zones of European countries in the Mediterranean, but Greece never invoked this.

The US ambassador’s misplaced statement on the 2003 Seville Charter has sparked a flurry of analysis even by those who do not know where Seville is. In a post on its Twitter account, the US Embassy in Turkey stated, in English and Turkish, the following:

“The United States as a matter of global policy does not take positions on other states ‘ maritime disputes. With respect to the legal status of the Seville Map, the United States does not consider the Seville Charter to have any legal significance. We understand that the EU does not consider the Seville Map to be a legally binding document. Maritime boundaries are for the states involved to resolve by agreement on the basis of international law. “The United States strongly supports good faith dialogue in good faith and the negotiations and urges Greece and Turkey to resume exploratory talks as soon as possible.”

This statement would have some significance if the Americans had read the EU positions more carefully. This map of Seville, created in 2003, has disappeared from the EU itself, which has published in its official maps the EU EEZ showing the EEZs of its coastal states. Thus, all subsequent EU maps show that Greece has a maritime border with Cyprus and especially the fact that the EEZ of the island of Strongyli has full influence and is adjacent to the EEZ of the Republic of Cyprus.

A European Commission document entitled “The EU and international ocean governance” states that the EU has the largest EEZ in the world and its size reaches 20 million square kilometers, ie its seas are 380% larger than its land area. But the most important element of this document is the next map that shows the EEZs of all EU countries and which, clearly, defines not only the EEZ of Greece but also the fact that it has a sea border with Cyprus.

The EU and Athens do not care about Cyprus

Unfortunately, we are going for a dialogue, forgetting the sufferings of the Cyprus EEZ. Thus, the Cypriot journalist Michalis Ignatiou writes with particular bitterness:
• Who cares about the Republic of Cyprus?
• And so what if Turkey is occupying 40% of its territory?
• And so what if the Turkish warships have encircled the island?
• And so what if Barbaros and Yavuz “pierce” the Cypriot EEZ every day?

No problem there. Greece is one thing, and the Republic of Cyprus another. Isn’t this what the Athenian elite, which managed to place the government under siege and impose its views, says?

We forget that the EEZs of Greece and Cyprus are at the same time the EEZs of the EU. Therefore, the EU must take the initiative and ask Greece and Cyprus to delimit their EEZs. Greece and the EU undoubtedly have maritime borders. But Europe’s maritime borders are not only its territorial waters but also the EEZs of its member states!

Thus, the EEZ acquires at the same time an important geopolitical meaning that has escaped, until today, the focus of Brussels. On March 7, 2013, the then Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, speaking to officials of the European People’s Party, referred to the European EEZ, clearly in favor of a common European policy on the issues of external borders and the EEZ. In his speech he pointed out
“Greek or Cypriot oil or natural gas is “European” natural gas and “European” oil. So when will Europe talk about EEZs? “Why should it be a problem only for me, for my country?”

On the dark side of the moon

Six years later, in 2019, another government, that of Kyriakos Mitsotakis, brought the EEZ back to the forefront by delimiting it with those of Italy and Egypt and is preparing to delimit the EEZ with Albania, making our brothers in Cyprus angry for the umpteenth time. The ghost of the EEZ continues to haunt Turkey. It is well known that Turkey considers the concept of the EEZ to be its biggest enemy in the Eastern Mediterranean. Ankara is willing to up the stakes and believes that now is a great opportunity to create faits accomplis in the Eastern Mediterranean by utilizing the Turkish-Libyan memorandum and eyeing the sea, which for centuries has belonged to Greece.

In addition, Turkey is trying to forget that one of the conditions for its accession to the EU is its obligation to ratify UNCLOS and unfortunately the Greek Foreign Ministry forgets, for years now, to remind Turkey of this important condition, whenever it violates the rights of Greece and Cyprus in the Eastern Mediterranean.

As MP, and academic, Angelos Syrigos and I wrote: “Especially lately Turkey seems to be bothered that we exist and breathe. We can not live life with the logic of not bothering Turkey. With such perceptions we have today ended up being on the dark side of the moon in terms of international law. The only country in the world that has not established 12 n.m. territorial waters and the country with the smallest maritime zones in the world! “