ATHENS, December 19. /TASS/. Turkey has warned Greece that it may unilaterally demarcate the borders of its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the Aegean Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean region if Greece does not withdraw its troops from Greek islands in the eastern part of the Aegean Sea, Greece’s pronews.gr information portal reported on Sunday night.

According to it, for the first time, Turkey indirectly but clearly warned Greece that it would unilaterally begin the demarcation of the borders of an EEZ in the Aegean Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean if its demand to "restore legitimacy with regards to the Lausanne (1923) and Paris (1947) treaties" is not accepted and Greece’s armed forces are not withdrawn from the islands in the eastern part of the Aegean Sea and the Dodecanese. This warning was issued by Turkish Presidential Spokesman Ibrahim Kalin at a meeting with Director of the Greek Prime Minister's diplomatic office Anna-Maria Boura attended by German Chancellery Foreign and Security Policy Advisor Jens Ploetner.

The meeting was held in Brussels on Friday but media outlets found out about it only on Sunday because neither Greece, nor Turkey made any official reports about it.

The news portal notes that Turkey may unilaterally declare its EEZ since a precedent has been set: Egypt had unilaterally demarcated an EEZ with Libya to the west of a demarcation line with Greece violating a bilateral agreement principle for establishing such maritime borders.