(@FahadShabbir)

Greece will start pushing its maritime boundaries outward, starting from the western coastline, to gradually expand its territorial waters to 12 nautical miles, its outgoing foreign minister said Saturday.

ATHENS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 20th October, 2018) Greece will start pushing its maritime boundaries outward, starting from the western coastline, to gradually expand its territorial waters to 12 nautical miles, its outgoing foreign minister said Saturday.

Turkey warned in 1995 that an attempt by Athens to expand its territorial sea beyond 6 nautical miles would authorize its government to declare a war on Greece.

"It [border] will stretch from [Ionian Sea island] Othonoi to Antikythera [northwest from Crete]. It will expand to 12 miles from 6 miles for the first time since we got the Dodecanese [islands in the southeast Aegean Sea]," Nikos Kotzias said.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who accepted the diplomat's resignation this week, said at the handing-over ceremony that his office would continue the work to expand the maritime border.