The Greek state has reportedly clarified its position on the ratification of the 2019 Turkey-Libya Maritime Deal to the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, on Thursday.
Greece’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Aglaia Balta, sent an official letter to the Office of the UN Secretary-General on Thursday, AMNA says, following the briefing of the UN Security Council on developments concerning the illegal Turkish-Libyan memorandum.
According to sources, the letter reiterates Greece’s long-standing positions, including that the Turkish-Libyan memorandum is null and void, without legal foundation, and produces no legal effects vis-à-vis third states.
Meanwhile, the Hellenic American Leadership Council has called to the public to sign their letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio for a stronger response to the dispute than the one issued by Washington earlier this week.
Also on Friday, Egypt’s foreign minister told his Turkish counterpart that Cairo rejects their agreement with Libya, bringing the dispute directly into talks between the two countries in Istanbul.
The Turkish-Libyan maritime deal draws a sea border between Turkey and Libya across the eastern Mediterranean, which Cairo sees as cutting into Egyptian waters, hence Egypt’s signing of a respective maritime deal with Greece in response.
Turkey-Libya maritime deal violates international law, Greece says
Ambassador Aglaia Balta’s letter to the UN Secretary-General has clearly stated that the Turkish-Libyan Maritime Deal is in flagrant violation of international law – more specifically with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) – and is thus disregarding the sovereign rights and maritime zones of the Greek islands.
The letter points out that Turkey and Libya have neither overlapping maritime zones nor a common maritime boundary, and adds that its approval/ratification does not confer legality on the memorandum or invalidate the Greek positions.
It also reiterates that Greece is committed to the delimitation of maritime zones through peaceful means and in good faith, on the basis of the international law of the sea, as demonstrated by the relevant agreements already concluded by Greece with Egypt and Italy.
According to the same sources, other countries in the region with an interest in the matter are expected to send similar letters to the UN.
Hellenic American Leaders ask Washington for stronger response
The Hellenic American Leadership Council (HALC) has posted a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on their website, calling to the public to sign it and request that he rejects the Turkey-Libya maritime memorandum and protect U.S. interests.
The letter asks for a clear public position on the matter, stressing that Washington’s comment earlier this week was weaker than the position the Department took when the memorandum was first signed. At the time, the agreement had been described by the U.S. as “unhelpful and provocative.”
“The memorandum now reaches well beyond Greece and Turkey. It puts concrete American interests at risk,” HALC adds. The letter concludes that “the U.S. position should be at least as clear as Europe’s.”
Turkey-Libya accord a widely controversial agreement
Turkey and the internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) of Libya in Tripoli signed a maritime boundary treaty in November 2019, in order to establish an exclusive economic zone in the Mediterranean Sea, through which they could claim rights to seabed resources.
The agreement was controversial and drew widespread condemnation by the states in the region and the international community, including the rival Eastern-Libya government led by the country’s Parliament and the Libyan National Army, the European Union, the United States of America, Greece, Russia, Egypt, Cyprus, Malta, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Serbia, Israel, Syria, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and the Arab League.
However, the Eastern Libya-based Parliament this week endorsed and ratified the deal with Turkey, reversing its 2020 rejection.
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