Greece takes Türkiye-Libya maritime deal dispute to UN

Greece referred its objection to the Türkiye-Libya maritime delimitation memorandum approved by Libya’s House of Representatives to the UN in a letter sent to UN Secretary-General António Guterres.

Greece referred its objection to the memorandum on the delimitation of maritime jurisdictions signed by Türkiye and Libya in 2019 to the United Nations. The letter written by Greece’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Aglaia Balta, on the instructions of Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis, was delivered to UN Secretary-General António Guterres on October 22, according to Greek diplomatic sources.

Athens’s objection came after Libya’s House of Representatives in the east of the country approved the memorandum on October 20. Greece argues that the Libyan parliament’s approval does not change the memorandum’s legal status, that the memorandum is incompatible with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and that it cannot have legal consequences for third countries.

Türkiye ile Libya arasındaki deniz yetki alanları hattını gösteren harita

Objection over Crete

Greece claims that the line established by the memorandum violates an area southeast of Crete that it regards as its exclusive economic zone and disregards maritime areas that it argues should be recognized as belonging to the islands.

On the same day, Gerapetritis spoke by phone with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, and the two agreed to continue talks on expanding the delimitation of maritime jurisdictions between their countries.

Türkiye and Libya emphasize that the memorandum complies with international law and is valid. Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on October 21, in response to reactions to the memorandum, that the agreement was highly legitimate both legally and politically.