Reuters
February 20, 2012
The frontrunner in Greece's parliamentary election said on Monday the indebted country should set out the borders of an offshore economic exploitation zone, a step towards hydrocarbon exploration that could antagonize its longterm rival Turkey.
Conservative New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras said he believed Greece should follow Cyprus's example in defining a maritime boundary, which is normally a precursor to exploring offshore for oil and gas.
Such a move could escalate festering arguments between Turkey and Greece over land, air, sea and sea-floor borders in the Aegean, if the proposed zone crosses into disputed territory.
Both countries have come to the brink of conflict over territorial rights in the past. They are also at loggerheads over Cyprus, an island ethnically split between Greek and Turkish Cypriots.
"We believe that Greece should undertake corresponding specific initiatives such as those taken by the late (Cypriot) President Tassos Papadopoulos in recognizing an EEZ (economic exploitation zone)," Samaras told reporters in Cyprus.
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