Following Greece’s announcement that it would create two marine parks in the Aegean and Ionian Seas, Turkey is expected to map similar parks in a tit-for-tat move, according to Turkey’s state-run news agency Anadolu on Tuesday.

Ankara is waiting to see whether the Greek marine parks, which are expected to be announced by Greece by the end of the month, will overlap areas in the Aegean claimed by Turkey, the same report said.

The country is examining “measures against possible unilateral steps” by Greece, as well as other measures for the protection of the environment that it is going to implement in areas of the Aegean, the Mediterranean, the Black Sea and the Sea of ​​Marmara.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced on Monday that legal procedures for the creation of Greece’s first two marine parks will begin within June.

Speaking at the 3rd United Nations Ocean Conference in Nice – co-chaired by France and Costa Rica and running through June 13 – Mitsotakis said the two marine parks will be established in the Ionian Sea and the Cyclades, emphasizing that the initiative is driven solely by the need to protect Greece’s rich marine ecosystems and biodiversity.

Greece’s marine park initiative forms part of its commitment to the global “30×30” target, aiming to protect 30 percent of the country’s territorial waters by 2030.

Source: Ekathimerini.com