Maritime Disputes in the Eastern Mediterranean. Roudi Baroudi

of the relevant countries’ Territorial Sea Baseline Models. This highly accurate data will also show how and where the oil and gas blocks defined by individual states overlap with one another based on computations of suggested locations for maritime boundaries.

      Figure 1. The Regional Study Area

      Source: R. Baroudi/DTS1-2018

      When it comes to suggesting boundaries, every observation and suggestion in this work is firmly rooted in science and law, the same factors that apply to any process under UNCLOS standards. The Law of the Sea is governed by a special treaty regime consisting, for those states having signed and ratified, of the Geneva Conventions concluded in 1958 and the UNCLOS document itself, which was signed in 1982 and entered into force in 1994.

      UNCLOS includes basic rules and principles for the fair and accurate delimitation of the various zones of control described in the convention, i.e., the territorial sea, the contiguous zone, the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), and the continental shelf (including the extended continental shelf). As we shall see below, LOS applications have been used so successfully, and in so many different types of situations, that there can be no doubt: when and if the countries of the Eastern Mediterranean resolve to adhere to the UN Charter and settle their maritime disputes peacefully under UNCLOS principles, they will have the tools to do so without the need for violence or threats.

      Figure 2. Eastern Mediterranean Showing Seven Coastal States: Greece, Turkey, Cyprus, Syria, Lebanon, and Israel

      Source: R. Baroudi/DTS3 - Aug 2019

      Figure 1 details the extent of geographic coverage for the entirety of Eastern Mediterranean waters (464,000 km²). The image details both land (solid green image colors, with darker green indicating increased topography) and marine areas (lighter whites to light orange for shallower waters [depths up to 60 meters], contrasting with increasingly darker blues down to 4,470 meters). The offshore continental shelf has been specifically enhanced to show the seabed morphology (light to medium greens), with deeper waters also indicated (light to darker blues). A subsided plateau is well defined offshore south of Cyprus, plus a deep trough (in northwest offshore), along with many interesting shallow geological structures, which are of interest for hydrocarbon possibilities. Inter alia, this study will include:

       A general analysis of relevant coastlines (Greece, Turkey, Syria, Cyprus, Lebanon, Israel, and Egypt);

       An examination of all land terminus points (LTPs);

       Survey, analysis, and review of all relevant trijunction points;

       Study and review of the present-day (2019) status of all the region’s maritime boundaries, plus, where required, suggestions for equitable possible/probable neutral outcomes based on “best law” and “best science”—i.e. a “by-the-book” approach under UNCLOS principles and practices; and

       A table of available mechanisms for resolving maritime boundary disputes.

      1. See, for example, Kamrava (2013).

      2. See Tilliros (2017).