Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has rejected a maritime boundaries agreement between Türkiye and Libya’s eastern parliament as “blatantly illegal, null and void”.
Speaking to Reuters on Thursday as Greece’s presidency of the UN Security Council drew to a close, Mitsotakis also called for an urgent “international truce” to protect shipping in the Black Sea. His appeal came a day after a Greek-owned container vessel was sunk there.
Libya’s eastern parliament approved the maritime deal with Türkiye last week. The agreement was originally reached in 2019.
Its approval drew condemnation from Greece, Egypt, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, which said it threatened regional security and the international legal order.
“It completely disregards the geography, the reality that there are Greek islands -- they seem to completely disappear in the thinking of Turkey and Libya,” Mitsotakis said.
He accused the two countries of trying to create a “fait accompli” that disregarded the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that criticism from the EU and others of the agreement’s approval has no legitimate basis, and has defended Ankara’s policy in the eastern Mediterranean.
Since the 2019 deal was first struck, Greece has granted a licence to a Chevron-led consortium to search for gas off Crete. Athens has also sought its own agreement with Libya to demarcate the two countries’ maritime zones.
Mitsotakis said, “There’s no risk that these explorations will be in any way challenged.”
Describing Greece and Libya as “natural neighbours”, he urged Libya to negotiate directly with Athens and to treat the talks “very, very seriously”.
Mitsotakis spoke to Reuters after chairing a Security Council debate on maritime security. Only hours earlier, a Greek container ship had sunk after being hit by naval drones off the coast of Bulgaria. It was the latest in a series of attacks on ships in the western Black Sea this month.
It was not immediately clear who carried out the attack, which has added to concern over the effect of Russia’s war in Ukraine on commercial shipping in the region.
Greek-operated vessels make up one of the world’s largest tanker fleets and play a central role in Black Sea trade. Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania and Türkiye share the sea’s waters, along with Russia and Ukraine.
“We do need some sort of international truce when it comes to the freedom of navigation,” Mitsotakis said. He described allowing grain exports from the region to reach world markets through the Black Sea as an “utmost priority”.
Mitsotakis said Greek shipowners were ready to return if conditions allowed.
“Greek shipowners would be the first to resume trading in the Black Sea, also from Ukraine, assuming a safe passage is guaranteed,” he said. He added that chartering and insurance costs had “gone through the roof”.
He said Ukraine depended financially on exporting its produce. “They had a bumper harvest, but the grain is now sitting in silos, in danger of rotting.”
“Unfortunately, for the moment, Russia doesn’t seem to be interested in engaging in a substantive discussion,” he said.
Mitsotakis also urged the European Union to reinforce Aspides, its naval mission protecting shipping in the Red Sea. The mission was launched in 2024 in response to attacks by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis.
Escalating hostilities between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia have disrupted oil supplies and raised the risk of a wider regional conflict, eight months after U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran. This week, the Houthis said they had attacked Saudi military aircraft and pushed back an advance by Saudi-backed forces near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a key Red Sea shipping lane.
“My argument is simple: the European Union has an interest in having a concrete presence with hard assets in this part of the world, and we need more countries to participate in Aspides,” Mitsotakis said.
He said Greece, Italy and France had contributed “assets” to the mission, but that this was “clearly not enough”. Diplomats told Reuters that, as of late September, six warships were operating as part of the mission.
“If we really want to send the message also to the Gulf countries that we take their security seriously, but we also protect the critical arteries and waterways that are absolutely indispensable for European trade, we should be willing to deploy more assets to this part of the world,” he said.
Asked about U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision earlier this month to lift sanctions on Russian diesel exports, Mitsotakis said Greece still backed sanctions on Moscow.
“We believe that we need to put economic pressure and impose more financial pain on Russia to send a very clear signal that as long as they prolong this war, they will suffer very specific economic consequences,” he said.
A tanker carrying the first Russian diesel shipped under a surprise agreement between Moscow and U.S. President...
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has rejected a maritime boundaries agreement between Türkiye and ...
Former Salvadoran president Elias Antonio “Tony” Saca was released from prison on Thursday after co...
Despite losing his bloc's majority in Israel's 120-seat Knesset in a hotly contested election, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has managed to remain in the lead after 70 per cent of votes were tallied on Wednesday. Figures are subject to change as counting continues.
The Middle East conflict remains tense as diplomatic efforts continue alongside renewed Houthi attacks. Iran says it remains open to mediation, while the Saudi-led coalition says it intercepted a ballistic missile fired towards the kingdom.
Rescuers searched the wreckage of two high-speed trains in central Spain on Thursday as the death toll rose to a provisional 74, making it the country's second fatal high-speed rail disaster this year.
Strengthened U.S.-Central Asia ties reflect a broader trend in international relations, with growing emphasis on developing alternative transit routes and diversifying energy and critical mineral supply networks to gain geopolitical influence.
At least 68 people have been killed after two high-speed trains collided in Spain on Wednesday, in the second deadly rail disaster in less than a year on a major route linking Madrid with the southern Andalusia region.
A tanker carrying the first Russian diesel shipped under a surprise agreement between Moscow and U.S. President Donald Trump is crossing towards the North Atlantic. However, it remains uncertain whether the fuel will end up in the U.S.
Former Salvadoran president Elias Antonio “Tony” Saca was released from prison on Thursday after completing a reduced sentence for corruption, marking the end of one of the most high-profile political corruption cases in the country's history.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia remains willing to rebuild relations with European countries but warned that any wider conflict on the continent would leave no winners, as he commented on recent diplomatic contacts with Nordic leaders and growing security concerns in the Baltic region.
At least four people were killed and 12 others injured when an Italian military helicopter serving with the European Union's peacekeeping mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina crashed near the town of Brcko on Thursday, according to Italian media reports.
European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde said on Thursday she would step down eight months early, seeking greater freedom to speak out on global issues beyond monetary policy.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment