Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis declared the Turkey-Libya maritime agreement "illegal and null and void" during...

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis declared the Turkey-Libya maritime agreement "illegal and null and void" during a remote address at the Manama Dialogue in Bahrain on Thursday, directly challenging Ankara's claims over Eastern Mediterranean waters. The core of his argument was straightforward. The agreement's proposed maritime boundaries simply ignore the existence of Greek islands, and Mitsotakis made that point concrete with a hypothetical: if Greece were to draw a diagonal line across the Mediterranean by signing a similar deal with Tunisia, it would erase geography entirely and violate basic principles of international law. He contrasted that arrangement with the Greece-Egypt maritime delimitation deal, holding it up as proof that Eastern Mediterranean disputes can be resolved, provided countries respect international law rather than override it. Mitsotakis also drew a hard line on energy infrastructure. Greece will not allow major projects like the Great Sea Interconnector, the planned electricity link between Greece and Cyprus, or the proposed electricity connection between Greece and Egypt, to be held hostage to geopolitical disputes. "We will not accept this," he said. The prime minister's remarks reflect a broader Greek position that energy corridors crossing the Eastern Mediterranean are too strategically important, both for regional connectivity and European energy security, to become bargaining chips in unresolved maritime disputes. The Turkey-Libya deal was originally signed in 2019 and has since been ratified, despite consistent objections from Athens, Nicosia, and Cairo, who argue it has no standing under international law. #Greece #Turkey #EasternMediterranean