Turkey, Greece reportedly close to deal over Aegean disputes

Ankara and Athens are close to reaching an agreement over territorial waters in the Aegean Sea, a Greek daily claimed yesterday. According to Greek daily Kathimerini, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Greek counterpart George Papandreou are considering a solution in which Greece would forgo claiming 12 miles of territorial waters from the islands but would have that distance from the mainland. Citing anonymous diplomatic sources, the daily said if the deal goes through, Greece would possess almost 80 percent of the Aegean Sea, a source of friction between the two countries for decades. In a similar story, Greek daily To Vima claimed that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague would issue a ruling to this effect. Papandreou earlier said they would apply to the ICJ only if an agreement with Turkey could not be reached.