Greece to Expand Territorial Waters to 12 Miles From Coastline

ATHENS (Sputnik) - Greece will start pushing its maritime boundaries outward, starting from the western coastline, to gradually expand its territorial waters to 12 nautical miles, its outgoing foreign minister said Saturday.

"It [border] will stretch from [Ionian Sea island] Othonoi to Antikythera [northwest from Crete]. It will expand to 12 miles from 6 miles for the first time since we got the Dodecanese [islands in the southeast Aegean Sea]," Nikos Kotzias said.

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Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who accepted the diplomat’s resignation this week, said at the handing-over ceremony that his office would continue the work to expand the maritime border.

Turkey warned in 1995 that an attempt by Athens to expand its territorial sea beyond 6 nautical miles would authorize its government to declare a war on Greece.