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Türkiye made history on Aug. 16, 2026, with a presidential decree published in the Official Gazette: the waters off Fethiye in Mugla and Kas in Antalya, along with designated areas in the North Aegean, were granted "Marine National Park" status under the National Parks Law.
With the declaration of the Fethiye-Kas and North Aegean Marine National Parks, Türkiye's total number of national parks rose to 52, and its overall number of protected areas reached 698.
Ankara's use of environmental protection agreements as a tool to reinforce its legal claims represents a legitimate option under international law. It carries strategic weight, grounding Türkiye's legal claims over sovereign rights in the Aegean on a concrete and enforceable basis.
Greece's reaction, coming immediately after the decision was announced, shows that Athens understood exactly what Ankara's move meant.
This process has its roots in Türkiye's Maritime Spatial Planning Map, announced on April 16, 2025.
It was formally registered with UNESCO's Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) on June 12, 2025, and on Aug. 2, 2025, two additional areas in the North Aegean and the Mediterranean were added to the map as "Marine Protected Areas."
Under the National Parks Law (Law No. 2873), the decision taken on Aug. 16 finalized the legal protection status of both areas.
Another dimension of this process is Türkiye's effort to align with the Kunming-Montreal targets under the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity (UNCBD).
While the global goal is to designate 30% of land and sea areas as protected zones, Ankara has translated this commitment into concrete action within the framework of the Presidency's 12th Development Plan.
Spanning 2,170,603 hectares, the Fethiye-Kas Marine National Park protects the nesting and feeding grounds of endangered species such as the Mediterranean monk seal and sea turtles.
Its geographic location is a detail worth noting: it sits in a region where the Aegean and Mediterranean meet, an area that has long been the subject of maritime jurisdiction disputes around the island of Meis (Kastellorizo).
Covering 174,214 hectares off the coasts of Canakkale and Tekirdag and extending around Gokceada, the North Aegean Marine National Park holds strategic importance for Türkiye in terms of the security of the Dardanelles Strait.
According to Mustafa Baskara, director of Ankara University's National Research Center for Maritime Law (DEHUKAM), the two parks together bring more than 23,000 square kilometers of new sea area under protected status. This step reaffirms, once again on the international stage, the importance Türkiye places on its marine ecosystems.
An important point worth recalling when it comes to the strength of the legal groundwork is that the Maritime Spatial Planning Map does not directly reflect jurisdictional boundaries in the Aegean.
Until a maritime border agreement is reached between Türkiye and Greece, the map shows maritime jurisdiction areas beyond territorial waters using a median line drawn between the two countries' mainlands. This approach shows that Ankara has opted for a measured, legally sound technical method rather than asserting a unilateral border claim.
Also underpinning this process is the Maritime Boundary Delimitation Agreement signed between Türkiye and Libya on Nov. 27, 2019. The agreement is considered the first step in the legal construction of the Blue Homeland doctrine, and it gave structural shape to Ankara's regional legal strategy at a time when the alignment between Israel, Greece, and the Greek Cypriot administration was gaining momentum.
Greece's reaction to Türkiye's move carries both a sense of concern and an inconsistency that echoes past patterns.
Athens announced two large marine parks in the Aegean and Ionian Seas in July 2025, and said it aimed to expand the initiative with new parks in the South Aegean and Ionian Sea by the end of 2026.
Türkiye's Ministry of Foreign Affairs had already issued a clear warning as early as April 9, 2024, stating that any marine parks declared in the Aegean, including those covering geographic formations whose sovereignty has not been transferred to Greece under international treaties, would carry no legal consequence.
It reiterated this position in a statement on July 21, 2025, recalling that unilateral actions should be avoided in enclosed or semi-enclosed seas such as the Aegean and the Mediterranean, and that international maritime law encourages cooperation among coastal states on environmental matters. It added that Türkiye stood ready at all times to cooperate as a coastal state in the Aegean.
Greece's Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement on Aug. 16, 2026, that contained a claim not matching reality: it argued that Türkiye's marine national park decision extends beyond Turkish territorial waters and labeled the decision "illegal."
In fact, Türkiye's decision amounts to nothing more than the exercise of sovereign rights over its own maritime jurisdiction areas for environmental protection purposes. These areas remain within legal boundaries that are transparently defined both in the Maritime Spatial Planning Map and under the National Parks Law.
Athens' objection rests on the assumption that its own declared marine parks carry legal validity. That assumption itself is built on shaky ground, given that the interconnected Aegean disputes, starting with the status of islands, islets, and rocks whose sovereignty has not been transferred to Greece, remain unresolved.
Put differently, Greece's tendency to turn environmental protection initiatives into a political tool is an extension of an effort to create a fait accompli with no legal basis.
Türkiye's position, by contrast, has remained consistent. A commitment made in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' July 21, 2025, statement—that Türkiye would also announce its own projects to protect the environment in maritime areas—was translated into a concrete decision within a year.
With Türkiye set to host COP31 in November, the timing of this step appears well chosen, both in terms of the diplomatic calendar and in terms of legal messaging.
Ankara continues to act within its own territorial waters, within a framework grounded in international law, while keeping the door open to dialogue.
Greece's response, on the other hand, reflects a position lacking legal grounding and points to an attempt to lock in the current status quo in the Aegean in its own favor.
In this sense, the marine national parks issue represents a stage of the Blue Homeland doctrine that is now producing concrete results on the ground, and it sets a precedent that will help shape the course of the legal contest in the Aegean in the period ahead.
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