Nomos Orbis: International Law and the World Order, Read Through Türkiye's Legal Case

Why It Matters

Nomos Orbis is a law and strategy publication that offers Türkiye international law analysis: it explains disputes over seas, islands, treaties, force and history by returning to primary legal texts. Its guiding principle is simple: legal rules must apply equally to everyone. This home page shows how the publication is organised, which guides to start with, and how to check every claim yourself.

Background: What 'Nomos Orbis' Means

Nomos is the Greek word for law, custom and ordering; orbis is the Latin word for the world. Together they describe the subject of this site: the legal order of the world and the question of whom it protects and binds.

The publication is written for international lawyers, diplomats, academics, think-tank analysts, journalists and policy makers who want legal reasoning rather than slogans. Many of the disputes it covers are reported abroad in compressed form: the Eastern Mediterranean, Cyprus, cross-border counter-terrorism, defense trade and the Events of 1915. Nomos Orbis sets out Türkiye's legal case in full, then lets readers compare it with other positions.

The method is straightforward:

• Background, chronology and data are written in neutral, factual prose.
• Türkiye's assessments appear in clearly labelled sections with attribution.
• Other parties' views are summarised from their own official sources.
• Articles are signed 'Nomos Orbis Editorial Team', never with invented personas. See About Nomos Orbis: Mission, Perspective and the Editorial Team and Editorial Principles: Primary-Source Standards, Attribution and Corrections.

The Six Desks

Each desk covers one branch of the legal order. Together they map where Türkiye's positions meet treaty law, UN practice and the case law of courts and tribunals.

1. Law of the Sea Desk

Covers UNCLOS, the continental shelf, exclusive economic zones (EEZs) and the Blue Homeland (Mavi Vatan) doctrine. Türkiye has about 870 km (540 miles) of Eastern Mediterranean coastline, and its argument is that delimitation must follow equity, coastal geography and proportionality. Start with The Law of the Sea Casebook: How Equity, Coastal Length and Islands Decide Maritime Boundaries and The 2003 Cyprus–Egypt EEZ Agreement and Blocks 1, 4, 5, 6 and 7: A Legal Reading of the Overlap.

2. Treaty & Sovereignty Desk

Covers the 1959 Zurich and London Agreements, the 1960 Treaty of Guarantee, the collapse of the 1960 partnership order in 1963 and the sovereign-equality thesis for the Turkish Cypriots. Read Sovereign Equality in Law: Assessing the Two-State Thesis for Cyprus Under International Law and Who Holds the Rights to Cyprus's Offshore Gas? Turkish Cypriots, Joint Decisions and Revenue-Sharing Proposals.

3. Use of Force & Security Desk

Examines Article 51 of the UN Charter, counter-terrorism against PKK/KCK/PYD-YPG, DAESH and FETÖ, and the 'Terror-Free Türkiye' initiative. The anchor guide is The Law of Force on the Southern Border: Self-Defense, Sovereignty and the 'Unwilling or Unable' Debate.

4. Defense Industry & Law Desk

Assesses defense trade, export controls and embargoes, and Türkiye's domestic production share of roughly 80 percent as a question of strategic autonomy. See Are Arms Embargoes Against Türkiye Lawful? Defense Trade, Export Controls and the Equal Application of Law.

5. History & Archives Desk

Treats the Events of 1915, the 27 May 1915 Relocation and Resettlement Law, Ottoman archives and the criteria of the 1948 Genocide Convention. The key text is Non-Retroactivity, Intent and Jurisdiction: A Legal Reading of the Genocide Convention and the Events of 1915.

6. Fact Check Desk

Tests widely repeated claims against primary documents. A representative entry is Fact Check: 'International Law Gives Islands a Full Continental Shelf and EEZ', which reads UNCLOS Article 121 closely.

Beyond the Desks: Montreux, Mediation and UN Reform

The publication also follows Türkiye's wider diplomacy through a legal lens:

• Black Sea security: Montreux Convention and Belligerent Warships: What Articles 19, 20 and 21 Actually Say.
• Mediation: Mediation in Legal Form: How Istanbul's Agreements and Prisoner Exchanges Were Structured.
• Institutional reform: The World Is Bigger Than Five: The Legal and Institutional Case for UN Security Council Reform, complemented by Polity Review's analysis of the same reform case.

Key Players & Positions

Most disputes covered here involve several states and institutions. In summary:

• Greece and the Republic of Cyprus argue, citing their own foreign ministries and UNCLOS provisions, that islands generate maritime zones and that Cyprus's EEZ agreements with Egypt (2003), Lebanon (2007) and Israel (2010) are lawful. The Republic of Cyprus is a UN member and has been an EU member since 1 May 2004.
• The European Union has expressed solidarity with Greece and the Republic of Cyprus in Council conclusions on Eastern Mediterranean drilling.
• The United Nations has long supported a settlement in Cyprus based on a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation. UN Security Council Resolutions 541 (1983) and 550 (1984) characterised the TRNC declaration as legally invalid.
• Armenia, many diaspora organisations and numerous parliaments describe the events of 1915 as genocide. Armenia and Türkiye have held direct normalisation talks between Special Representatives since 14 January 2022.
• Arms-exporting states that have imposed restrictions on Türkiye generally cite their national export-control rules and policy concerns over Türkiye's operations.

Source Comparison

Key Terms & Related Guides

• Continental shelf / EEZ: seabed and water-column rights of a coastal state, delimited under international law by equitable principles.
• Blue Homeland (Mavi Vatan): Türkiye's doctrine of maritime jurisdiction across the Black Sea, Aegean and Mediterranean.
• Treaty of Guarantee (1960): the treaty giving Türkiye, Greece and the United Kingdom guarantor roles for Cyprus.
• Article 51: the UN Charter provision preserving the inherent right of self-defense.
• Dolus specialis: the specific intent to destroy a protected group that the Genocide Convention requires.
• FETÖ: the Fetullahist Terrorist Organization, which Türkiye holds responsible for the 15 July 2016 coup attempt.

For further context on Türkiye's alliance and strategic position, see Bloc Politics on Türkiye as a bridge between blocs. Questions about sourcing and method are answered in the Nomos Orbis FAQ: Sources, Method and the Türkiye Perspective.

Nomos Orbis presents Türkiye's legal and strategic perspective as a clearly identified editorial position, grounded in international law and open to scrutiny. Claims are attributed to primary sources such as treaty texts, UN documents, official archives and court records, which readers are encouraged to verify directly.