“Inactive” and “dead”, according to government spokesman Mr. Oikonomou, the Turkish-Libyan MoUs, however, succeeded in one thing: to reactivate the Greek side, which is in a hurry to announce to partners and allies that Greece “intends to defend with all legitimate means of their sovereign rights.

Insisting on the EEZ segmental delimitation agreement it signed with Egypt in 2020, an agreement that, as already noted, “has been concluded with respect to the international law of the sea”, as well as the right to the continental shelf, which Greece supports ipso facto et ad initio (automatically and by default), Athens sends a signal that it is not going to allow foreign exploration and drilling. at undemarcated points claimed by Greece as part of the Greek EEZ and continental shelf.

The continental shelf “in the absence of a bilateral agreement is determined by the median line” from the respective coasts, the Foreign Ministry notes in a statement, thereby reminding Tripoli and Ankara that there can be no – legal under international law – agreements on the delimitation of maritime zones south and east of Crete. who will ignore Greece.

The Greek side wants, in fact, to prevent / prevent any threat of the arrival of Turkish research vessels in the disputed waters south and east of Crete. According to the memorandum of understanding signed yesterday in Tripoli, Libya, Turkish floating drilling rigs and research vessels can explore for hydrocarbons both on land and in the high seas of Libya.

“On a practical level, this agreement has a wide range of applications. First, it brings the Turkish Oil Company (TRAO) into the Libyan market, which was once dominated by the Italian and French giants. Above all, however, this allows Turkey to try to blackmail Tripoli by giving it permission to conduct research in the northernmost part of the “Libyan” zone of the Turkish-Libyan memorandum, south of Crete, in areas of potential Greek sovereignty. ” notes Vassilis Nedos in today’s printed “K”.

“We resist the revival of imperial views, the violation of borders. Unspeakable appetites crumble on our own red lines […] At the national level, we remain steadfast in our relations. With arguments and international law. What do our allies in Europe and across the Atlantic agree on. Our steel shields always protect the Armed Forces. Our borders are blue, not gray,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said today, speaking to the New Democracy parliamentary group.

“Our country will react in the way that international law guarantees. Don’t forget that we have sovereign rights in this area. We signed an EEZ with Egypt. What Turkey is trying to do violates the sovereign rights of other countries, and it is certain that this will not be accepted by the international community. Neither our country nor our allies will allow this […] Our country will effectively and resolutely exercise its sovereign rights, as provided by international law, and because it has the opportunity and enough to do so,” government spokesman Yannis Oikonomou said in an interview with ERT.