Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has told the United Nations Security Council that the maritime agreement between Turkey and Libya is illegal, calling it “blatantly illegal, null and void” and saying it completely disregards geography.

Mitsotakis was speaking on Thursday, 29 October, as Greece ends its presidency of the Security Council, after chairing a high-level debate on maritime security. He argued that the agreement ignores the maritime entitlements of Greek islands, pointing on a map to Crete, Rhodes, Karpathos and Kasos, and accused Turkey and Libya of trying to create a fait accompli that ignores the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

A deal ratified on 20 October

Libya's eastern-based House of Representatives approved the maritime memorandum on 20 October. Turkey and Libya's then Government of National Accord originally signed it in November 2019. On 26 October, Greece, Egypt, Cyprus, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and the European Union issued a joint declaration opposing it, saying the ratification threatened peace, security and stability across the Mediterranean.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said reactions from the EU and others to the approval had no legitimate basis, defending Ankara's policy in the eastern Mediterranean. The Security Council itself did not rule on the memorandum or adopt the Greek legal position as a decision.

Black Sea truce call

Mitsotakis also called for an urgent international truce to protect shipping in the Black Sea, after a Greek-owned container vessel sank on Wednesday following a drone attack off Bulgaria. Since the 2019 Libya-Turkey deal, Greece has awarded a licence to a consortium led by Chevron to look for gas off Crete and has sought a separate agreement with Libya on demarcating their maritime zones, and Mitsotakis said there was no risk those explorations would be challenged.

Sources: LibyaReview; Reuters.