Turkey accused Greece on Tuesday of trying to impose fishing restrictions in disputed waters of the Aegean Sea and eastern Mediterranean, saying maps published by a Greek fisheries authority violate international law and infringe on Turkish maritime claims.
In a statement the Turkish Foreign Ministry said Greece had designated some areas as “no fishing zones” in waters where Ankara says Athens has no jurisdiction. It also rejected maps published on the website of Greece’s Fisheries Control Directorate, saying they depict “fictitious” maritime boundaries between the two NATO allies and have no legal validity.
Turkey said it would not recognize fishing restrictions imposed beyond Greece’s six nautical miles of territorial waters or in international waters, and said it would not accept any unilateral measures affecting Turkish fishermen.
The Turkish protest came weeks after Greece rolled out a digital platform showing active and inactive fishing restriction zones in real time. The platform was launched by the Greek Fisheries Control Directorate to help professional fishermen and the public track areas where commercial fishing is restricted, including zones protected for seagrass habitats and areas where trawlers or purse seines are banned. The tool is available through the directorate’s official website and is meant to improve enforcement and public access to fisheries rules.
Turkey and Greece have for decades clashed over maritime boundaries, airspace, mineral rights in the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean and the divided island of Cyprus. Although the two sides have worked in recent years to keep tensions from spiraling, maritime mapping remains one of the most sensitive parts of the relationship.
The latest row also comes less than a year after another flare-up over maritime maps. In April 2025, Greece submitted a maritime spatial plan to the European Union laying out where activities such as fishing, tourism, shipping, aquaculture and offshore energy could take place. Athens said at the time that the plan did not define exclusive economic zones, which require bilateral agreements, but Turkey later published its own map and Greece protested that as an attempt to claim areas under Greek jurisdiction.
Turkey also invoked the Athens Declaration on Friendly Relations and Good-Neighborliness, signed by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in December 2023. In that document the two sides pledged to maintain constructive consultations, avoid acts or statements that could undermine the spirit of the declaration and seek to resolve disputes through direct talks or other peaceful means under the United Nations Charter. The declaration, however, also says it does not create legal rights or obligations under international law.
That leaves plenty of room for disputes to continue even while both governments publicly support dialogue. In its statement Tuesday Turkey said it remained committed to resolving problems through “international law, equity and good neighborliness” but made clear it would not accept unilateral Greek restrictions on what it called the lawful and historic activities of Turkish fishermen.