Il;;Iit;Iiror.R*H and Natural Gas Had Been Discovered (U.S.) Rltlilrllil.R :' Dlt a Meeting on the Same Day
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r- -rrSt 12-18, L974 xnEstNcts coNTEMpoRARy aRcHrvES 26667 GREECE. End of Military Dictatorship. other hand, rejected this clairn and repeatedlv expressed its i,rrmation of Civilian Govemment uttaer-fvfr.- X"r"- readiness to negotiate !q::r'nlis. an agreenlent witil Gree6e to'determine -_ Dispute with Turkey over Continental Sh;If in the two countries' respective rights in the hxgean Sea. - Reintroductioir af rg12 Constitution, Aegean. -: rjntter the 1958 Geneva convention on the continental shelf lsee the *'ake of the events in CSprus 164151, [see 26661 A], the lfeads -page sigrred by Greece in lg72 but not sisned. by Turkey, tbe rrni' r"rr* Greek armed forces decided on iuly zs to citi tq)on nine bouniLaty within wLtich a state hail exclusive fisltis ti-exploit ltttntt*-,-"--ent persons-all for.mer leading politicians-to form mineral resources of its continental shelf might be determinea, by ., States iuri :r'tr Government in view of the n6tibnal emergency ". lying opposite to each other on the same shelf, eittier fy -:l: mutual agreement or, failing: such agreement, by the meclian rine Cabinet led try Mr. Adamantios Androutsopoulos, who betrveen the two shores. irtturur -'p"eatgdlV !een, severely criticized by his fo" Mr. prime llrttrr" ':€ u-.ed "oit"ug;", Alaio"Fqpoulos, then Greek Minister, had the Government merely to endorse actionJalready announced rl,**' :-h]' the military readers, ha.i in February that significant deposits of crucle oil il;;iit;iiror.r*h and natural gas had been discovered (u.s.) rltlilrllil.r :' dlt a meeting on the same day. "a"ii"" by ftre oceanic ';:"r€k Exploration Conrpany near the Grcek island of Thas'os, in the li officers of thc Third. Army Corps,, irr an appeal broaclcast northern Aegean. llrlrr'' - f eutsche The Greek Government thereupon claimed Welle of Cologne and by tne RgC oo.futy 2i, had all mineral rights in Greek territorial rmlil,r". : on Turkey to cease its hostile action in cyprus ald not to waters andbn the con- r*llhr .. ;retext offerecl to them by ,, ttre tinental shelf. 'l ,', i*esponsible and. criminal lllrrittltlL ' the group ruling in Athens and (b) on Presiclent Ghizikis - Turkey had earlier granted the state-ownecl rurkish petro- ilfiil1r [ :.: lead-erg of the armed. forces to convene a .. council for leum Compa+y exploration 'lllri*r ':":- Salvation', flIPAO) permits in the Aegean, anrl which should comprise (in adclition to the on Feb. 27 the lfurkish Governmeni haa in a Note offered to llllllltnurt, ' :j State) the armed. forceg, Ieaders, I(ing Consturriio", u*- Gre-ece oq jqigdiction ll0llttrnr.lll4lllitiilr' ::"- Fonqmonlio onn r.nn-^a^-+^l:-,^^ ^c +L^ ^^---L_,'- L , legotiate'with over the Aegean outside Karamanlis, and representatives of the country's two great the two countries' llltnu",^* l-il of the new political tendencies in the country, witn lfr. territorial wate$. In the a6sence of a lffi,,rrrrr,'r' -:., repl-y, :'iiq be,coming chairman of this Council with the iott po*"", -Gregk the Turkish Government decided early in April to I,,l,L of State and Prime Minister. The ofEcers also pr^oposecl L"gil exploration work at 27 points in the Ae{ean oot*ide ": taramanlis shoulal, together with president Makarios of Greek territorial waters. 'r i - .. cl )Iajor Karoussos (whom they described" as the legitimate Greco-Turkish relations aleterioratetl further rqi : to the late General Grivas',), make proposals after an announce- * to Britain ment in Athens on April 4, accord.ing to which Greek Air x'orce l:;eJ for an immecliateuE settlementDevvreureru ofuf UIIU vypr uts the Cyprus crisisul.rsru ; and fighters hatl on March 28 intercepted rurkieh bombers lr": elections shoukl be held in Greece trying to within six months. " penetrate into Greek air space ". [untter NATO regulations the ""' ' ; Iral, stating that those in power Aegean Sea was consiclered -"- in Athens hacl brought as being: under Groek coitrol, ancL all |in0( '" the brink of national catastrophe, also callecl upon Greece,s Allied naval forces in the area were under Greek conrmand. NATO l1r1r',r : ::ably the United States, to-discontinue imniertialetv-aff manoeu\-res were reportecl to have been broken off afber the incid.ent.l rilr', * ::: the Athens regime. The two sides repeatedly asserted their respective points il,l ili'rstantinos Rallis, then lWinister prime of at the Minister,s view in corurexion rvith tlie Aegean d-ispute. lltLrr'n r-r L in a broadcast assured the nation that mmours about an ' : :-e coup (by the _ Mr' And.routsopoulos cleclared on 1\{ay g that, although Greece was r#;-A;;;'6ffiffi i';il;":H"til#*"i!fll peace, -:::H-:h border and. commanded by Lieut.-General Ioannis cleclicatecl to she would " stand- unitecl to confroit any danger were " malicious fabrications,,, and. or threat " ; the discovery of oil cleposite in the Aegean,'he said, "-:4lant that the armed. forces would. ,. for the protection of the interests of the nation ancl of make the Greek economy almost seU-sufficient;,, and. a !, :r:d.er and tranquillity,, ; he hatl urged all Greeks to ofier " cornerstone of Greek policy " wag " the fi'cd.amental principle of -:: t\ey eould. " for the salvation of the nation,'. the ind.ivisibility of a countr-r,B territorial integrity, both conf,inental " and. inzular ", 'rr',rrr ,/ national emergency " referred to above involved the :::r,a,tion Professor Turan Giines, the Turkish X'oreign llinister, said in the of Greece's armed forees and a call-up of reserves senate in Ankara g '"r=;:'le military action against Turkev. on Ilfay that, although rurkey wuotea to rnaintain In-the eircum- friendly relations with Greece, she woul,cl'. nevei allow ilre Aeg;an to '*{ President (Genera!) Ghlzikis on July 28 become a Greek lake ". -,-rye+l four former Prime-Phaedon Ministers-l\{r. panavotis Mr. Biilent Ecevit, the Turkish Prime lrinister, anrrouneed :i ,-':,lulos, Mr. Stefanos Stefanopoulos, Mr. Gdorse ::i.ir:,adis-Novas gn l{"y _25 that_the Greek Government had replied to the and Jltr. Spyros lVlarkezinis-as well 6s Turkish Note of F"b-. "*:-:e Jlavros (the 2? and expressed aprreement to settle the Litreral le-ader), Mr. Petros Garoufalias dispute direct negotiations. in u'*'';- Jfinister {gS"rt -by in his repll- \Ir. Spr-- of Defenee), Mr. Evangelos Averoff-Tossizza q4"" Tetenes, the Greek Foreign nrrr:lrr,Foreign Minister), General (retd.) ]rinister. stated that Greece Solon Ghikas and did " not object to the demarcalion of eontinental rrr'ru:ln --r Xenophon Zplgt_as (a shelf bound- leading'economist) to a meeting, aries between the two eountries itrrtrt'r"r *:ur " on the basis of the lg5g also attended by General Gregorios Eonanos (c.-in- Geneva Convention. tt :,,,:r* -\rmed tr'orees) and the three service chiefs-Lieut.- ililly"ll -{ndreas Galatsanos, on May 29 Professor Giines announced. that a naral s.rre5 ressel Vice-Admiral Petros Arapakis woulrt carry out research on proposed ,-:' \-ice-Marshal Alexandros Papanieolou. oil drillilrg: in the aisp,tt.o waters; although the vessel woulcl be escorted. bykarships, he said-, ,t,,1^ l:::s frve-hour meeting President Ghizikis was said to have this action wae not intended to riolate Greece's ierritorial iratesrity. IlttrttLrri:.r':: to the politicians that the country was praetically lThe Turkish vessels returnecl to Istanbul on June 4.] tllllruiulr.l; 66 a Government and that it was ibsolutelv vital " on J'ne 3 Professor G;iLnes declared that Turkey (which has a u, :$'ar one should be formed immediatelv in view of reports lZ-mile territorial water limit in the Black sea) wouid never accept l-,c 36 the raising of the existing Tr.uks \vere viglatlng the cease-fiie in C5ryrus'i [see 6-mile rimit in the Aegean to 12 milel, ,.'1. lnd .'o' because this would. make the Aegean Sea Greek tenitory. and" of thetne need fortbr Greeee to be stronslv"fenresenierlstrongly represented rlrii,FEi'3 at the talks on C1prus arranged by Britain. _ I1.i-ts^reply to the Greek Note received on Mav 28, the 'utr rirLe <ame day President Ghizikis had asked l\fr. Kon- Turkish Government stated on June 4 that it wishei to enter rtri ;r:r,'iii the leader into negotiations " witltout. preconditions (i.e. without "--ion-Karamanlis, of the (conservative) National " and Prime Minister between lg55 and 1968, to reference to the lg58 Convention, which it had riot signed). :::rediately to Greeee from his self-imposed exile in The Greek Government sent a further Note to Turkey on mu trl[_:, Ilr[:, Karamanlis thereupon returned to Greeee during June 14, protesting against official Turkish statements and the rrnn: :f-J_uly ??-24 in an aireraft placed at his disposai movements of the Turkish survey vessel which indicated that lilur ?-,ncih President, and was asked to form a C,overninent tr*'*.'r,i1nt Turkey intended to explore Greece's continental sherf 'o without Ghizikis on July 24. due authorization and in violation of international rules,'. ]tuw,nte with Turkey over Continental Shelf in Turkish-Greek relations were discussed at NATO meetings Aegean Sea. in Ottawa on June 20 by Professor Giines and Mr. Tetenes, arid rr ,-:.1:r'utsoporrlos Government had been faeed not only in Brussels on June zE-26 between the two countries' premiers ,l !,i :Ti^:is irr Cyprus but also with an impasse reacheil and Toreign Ministers, but v'ithout any apparent progress, rrirlrirri:: which had arisen in March lg74 over the question Mr. Ecevit stating on June ZV tlrrat Grdece'fiad reject"? niJ il*rnw'ul':*'t\- over-the eontinental shelf in the Aege-an Sea, proposals on the proeedure for negotiations. "'r'r1rili!*t -.f s;hich both Turkish and Greek armed folrces were According to preso leports, 1\{r.