Athens continues to push Libya to undo maritime delimitation agreement with Türkiye

Athens continued to push Libya on Wednesday to undo a maritime delimitation agreement with Türkiye.

The Greek Foreign Ministry noted that the agreement was at the top of the agenda during a meeting with Acting Foreign Minister of Libya’s Tripoli-based GNA government, Taher Salem Al Baour, and Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis.

Gerapetritis underlined “the need to respect International Law, including the International Law of the Sea, and reiterated the Greek and European position regarding the invalid and non-existent Turkish-Libyan memorandum," according to the ministry.

The ministry also announced that the Greek and Libyan foreign ministries agreed to start the process for the delimitation of the maritime borders.

Libya’s LANA news agency said the ministers “exchanged views on the issue of demarcating maritime borders and exclusive economic zones related to the maritime areas adjacent to each other in the Eastern Mediterranean.”

In the fall of 2019, Türkiye and Libya signed a deal setting marine jurisdictions, rejecting unilateral and illegal activities by regional countries and international firms, and protecting the rights of both countries.

The deal was registered by the UN in October 2020.

Insisting on its maximalist claims, Athens has repeatedly announced the deal is “invalid … non-existing,” and systematically has pushed Libya to undo it.