Read on Twitter
1) Dear friends, we're making a mistake about Meis. Here I comprehensively summarize the fact of the Meis, the theses of Athens, and our legal basis. I think it would be useful in terms of "common language" if we could spread this thread. Enjoy reading https://twitter.com/tevfikkadan/status/1285964006914547714
2) Let's drop the phrase "island of Meis" first.This place has been referred to in history as "the Harmansız Island" In other words,it is described as a place without arable land and unable to produce its own economy.This has consequences in international law. https://twitter.com/tevfikkadan/status/1285964119473106947
3)Greece's official thesis is built on the claim that Meis,Karaada and Fener Island form an "archipelago" According to the United Nations Convention on the law of the sea clauses specified in Section IV,the archipelago may have maritime jurisdiction beyond its territorial waters https://twitter.com/tevfikkadan/status/1285964278701404162
Lets refute the"archipelago" thesis first.Our mainstay at this point is the South China Sea arbitration case between the Philippines and China. The arbitration tribunal interpreted Article 121/3 of the UN and determined the criteria between the rock and the fully competent island https://twitter.com/tevfikkadan/status/1285964778381488128
5) The resolution emphasized that rocks that are dependent on external supply and have no traditional population cannot produce full effect, that human efforts cannot legally convert a tide height or seabed into an island + https://twitter.com/tevfikkadan/status/1285964854952632320
+ and that a rock cannot be transformed into a fully authorized island as a result of land reclamation.
6) In other words, the settlement policies launched by Greece in 1996 will have no impact on the legal status of these rocks. "The real issue is pre-modernisation."it's called. The people you then moved into, the buildings you built, etc. things like that are invalid https://twitter.com/tevfikkadan/status/1285964945973293061
7) The population of MEIS, which was 800 in 1951, fell to 222 in 1981. After the settlement, it rose again to 590 people. The same goes for Kaarada and lantern island. According to the 2011 census, there are 15 people in Karaada and 9 in Fener Island. https://twitter.com/tevfikkadan/status/1285965395246145537
8) These rocks are economically completely dependent on outsourcing. They have no water and arable land, no traditional folk living and are closed to development. In other words, they cannot be legally recognized as fully authorized Islands. So they cannot form the archipelago. https://twitter.com/tevfikkadan/status/1285965467610488832
9) In fact, the ownership of Fener Island and Karaada is another matter of debate. Ownership of these two rock fragments was never transferred to Greece, and their names were never referred to together with Greece . So; https://twitter.com/tevfikkadan/status/1285965884721377281
10) The 13 Islands and the related islets in the Mentese Islands region, along with the MEIS, were ceded to Italy in the Lausanne peace treaty. The other two detached rocks in the region, Karaada and Fener Island, were not subject to the transfer of sovereignty in Lausanne. https://twitter.com/tevfikkadan/status/1285965994847084544
11) By the Turkish-Italian Convention on 4 January 1932, the sovereignty of Karaada and Fener Island was transferred to Italy. The Italians ceded the islands, which Turkey ceded to them in Lausanne, to the sovereignty of Greece in the 1947 Paris Peace Treaty. https://twitter.com/tevfikkadan/status/1285966041034690566
12However,there was no reference to the Turkish-Italian Convention of 1932. In other words,the rocks next to MEIS were illegally transferred by the unilateral expansion of Lausanne without the consent of Turkey,which was not included in the treaty states of the Paris Peace Treaty https://twitter.com/tevfikkadan/status/1285966097271992320
13) In addition, which of the “adjacent islets” attached to the MEIS mentioned in the Paris Peace Treaty is not stated concretely in neither the text of the convention nor in the attached maps. https://twitter.com/tevfikkadan/status/1285966357109133312
14) In other words, Karaada and Fener Island are rock fragments that do not belong to Athens, just as they have no influence on Greece's interests. https://twitter.com/tevfikkadan/status/1285966410963877888
15) In addition to all these facts, the ICJ has 17 resolutions that in similar disputes only Islands remaining on opposite sides can have territorial waters. Enthusiasts can look at Filfla, snakes, Qit'at Jaradah, Alcatraz, Djerba, Saint Pierre and Miquelon. https://twitter.com/tevfikkadan/status/1285966528542908419
16) So what is Greece's plan? Greece knows very well that with a military option it cannot exercise the rights it ascribes to Meis. To that end, they plan to go with Egypt to the International Court of Justice (ICJ). https://twitter.com/tevfikkadan/status/1285966635115909121
17) However, Greece had extended its reservations to the jurisdiction of the ICJ to include territorial waters, airspace and sovereignty issues with its decisions of 14 and 16 January 2015. Thus they closed the ICJ path in domestic law https://twitter.com/tevfikkadan/status/1285966726216196101
18) Greece, which did not recognise the ICJ decisions until yesterday,is today trying to make its presence in the Eastern Mediterranean permanent by introducing a limited influence from the ICJ on these rocks.+ https://twitter.com/tevfikkadan/status/1285966788103229443
But the three truths mentioned above also make it risky for Athens to go to the ICJ.
19) Let us remind again: Meis, Kaarada and Fener Island are not legally fully effective islands but rocks. They cannot form an archipelago. Its ownership is controversial. Because they remain on the opposite side, they cannot produce any marine area. https://twitter.com/tevfikkadan/status/1285966875982286848
20) Turkey is legally right and its navy can protect its right. Friendship and cooperation ensure Greece wins, otherwise Turkey will not suffer a loss of rights. https://twitter.com/tevfikkadan/status/1285967375179878400
