Greece has formally told the United Nations that the Turkey-Libya maritime memorandum is null and void and cannot produc...

Greece has formally told the United Nations that the Turkey-Libya maritime memorandum is null and void and cannot produce any legal effect for third states. On Thursday, October 22, Greece's Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Aglaia Balta, sent an official letter to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spelling out Athens' position, acting on instructions from Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis. The letter states the 2019 memorandum has no legal foundation, violates the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and ignores the maritime zones of Greek islands. It also points out a key flaw in the deal itself: Turkey and Libya share no overlapping maritime zones and no common maritime boundary, meaning there is no legitimate basis for the agreement to begin with. Ratification by Libya's House of Representatives, based in Benghazi on October 20, does not change that, Athens argues. Greece restated its commitment to settling maritime boundaries through peaceful negotiations under international law, pointing to its existing agreements with Egypt and Italy as proof of that approach. Other countries in the region are expected to send similar letters to Guterres in the coming days. The pushback is broad. The EU said on October 21 that the memorandum infringes on the sovereign rights of third states, with EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas raising the issue directly with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in Brussels. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa both told Ankara the deal is incompatible with international law. Egypt's foreign minister separately told his Turkish counterpart in Istanbul that Cairo rejects the agreement entirely. The memorandum was originally signed in November 2019 between Turkey and Libya's Tripoli-based government. Libya's eastern parliament had rejected it in 2020 before reversing course this week. #Greece #Turkey #EasternMediterranean