National airspace

Greece exercises sovereignty in the air within 10 nautical miles of its coasts (under the Decree of 6 September 1931 (which established territorial sea of 10 nautical miles of its coasts for this specific purpose), in conjunction with Laws 5017/1931, 230/1936 and 1815/1988). Greece, as a sovereign state, chose to exercise its sovereignty in the air within the 10 nautical miles of territorial waters it declared in 1931, for the purposes of aviation and the control thereof, and within 6 nautical miles at sea (Law 230/1936 and legislative decree 187/1973). Further, it should be noted that following the extension of Greece’s territorial sea to 12 nautical miles in the Ionioan Sea (Law No. 4767/2021), the width of the national airspace in this area is set at 12 nautical miles.

Turkish warplanes, often armed, violate Greek airspace, on a systematic basis, and fly over even inhabited Greek areas, a fact which raises serious security concerns.

Such a conduct on the part of Türkiye consists a flagrant violation of Greek airspace and triggers potential “hot incidents”.

Türkiye’s claim countering the breadth of Greek national airspace under international law, is groundless for the following reasons:
a) The exercise of sovereignty within 10 nautical miles of territorial waters for aviation purposes is legal, as it does not exceed the 12 nautical miles, up to which limit the outer limit of territorial waters could extend, according to the law of the sea (argumentum a maiore ad minus).
b) Greece has published the above legislation.
c) From 1931 and for many decades onwards Türkiye accepted the breadth of Greek national airspace at 10 nautical miles without raising any objection or dispute, which qualifies under international law as a tacit legal agreement. The 10-nautical mile status, which has been in force since 1931, when the relevant presidential decree was issued, has been uniformly implemented ever since.