Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar described Greece’s decision to expel the Libyan Ambassador over the new maritime boundary deal between Ankara and Tripoli as a demonstration of the nation’s weakness.
“We regard it as a sign of weakness,” Akar said speaking to Turkish journalists, adding that “it will not affect the final outcome.”
The Greek government announced on Friday that it is expelling Libyan ambassador to Athens Mohammed Younis AB Menfi after the Arab country failed to provide the official text of the agreement signed with Turkey on maritime borders in the eastern Mediterranean.
Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias told the Libyan ambassador that he had 72 hours to leave the country.
“The memorandum with Libya does not go against our neighbors but was created to supervise the rights and interests of two sovereign states, Turkey and Libya,” the Turkish defense minister said who also maintained that the deal is “in full harmony with international law.”
The accord between Turkey and Libya’s internationally-recognized government, which arbitrarily mapped out an area in the sea between the two countries, was signed on November 27.
Greece has said any such accord would be geographically absurd because it ignores the presence of the Greek island of Crete between the coasts of Turkey and Libya, while Libya’s neighboring country of Egypt dismissed the deal as “illegal,” as did Cyprus.
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