Terms Greek-Turkish crisis in Eastern Mediterranean creates Ankara’s new agreement with the government based in Tripoli, Libyaaccording to which Turkish floating drilling rigs and research vessels will be able to conduct research on hydrocarbons. In an agreement signed yesterday by the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and appointed Prime Minister of the Government of National Unity Abdul Hamid Dbeiba is expected to support in the future “the use of research vessels and drilling vessels used by the Turkish Oil Company and its partners for the exploration, development and production of existing and future hydrocarbons in the territory and on the high seas of Libya “. It is clear from the agreement that EEZ (and, by extension, the bottom of the continental shelf) of Libya is perceived as a border demarcated by Ankara and Tripoli in November 2019 by an irregular Turkish-Libyan memorandum. Once again, as happened with the Turkish-Libyan memorandum, the new agreement was signed by the Tripoli government and completely rejected by the parliaments in Tobruk and Benghazi. 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. But most importantly, it allows Turkey to try to blackmail Tripoli into granting permits to conduct research in the northernmost part of its “Libyan” territory. Memorandum of Turkolivikossouth of Crete, in areas of potential Greek sovereignty.

Greece “possesses sovereign rights in the region, which it intends to protect by all legal means,” the Foreign Ministry emphasizes.

The first information about a new, upcoming attempt to consolidate the situation, created by the Turkish-Libyan memorandum to the detriment of the sovereign rights of Greece, was received by the Turkish media on Sunday. After signing an agreement with Ministry of Foreign Affairs it was emphasized that Greece “possesses sovereign rights in the area, which it intends to defend by all legal means, in full respect of international maritime law”, while recalling that the irregular Turkish-Libyan memorandum takes precedence over “the delimitation of its EEZ with Egypt, the agreement which has been concluded in respect of the international law of the sea.” The Foreign Ministry also notes that Greece has the right, ipso facto et ad initio, to the continental shelf, which, in the absence of a bilateral agreement with Libya, is determined by the middle line and in no case at the point calculated by Ankara on the basis of the 2019 memorandum.

Based on what was announced by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the most important factor in the region, Egypt, also casts doubt on the legitimacy of the signing of the said memorandum of understanding by the Government of National Unity of Libya. Yes, foreign minister Nikos Dendias he discussed this over the phone with his colleague Sameh Shukri, whom he will hasten to meet in Cairo next Sunday. Mr. Dendias condemned Turkey’s actions detrimental to security in the region and the intervention he carried out via videoconference in the EU Association Council. – Israel. Yesterday, Mr. Dendias briefed the US and French ambassadors in Athens, George Zuni and Patrick Maisonave, on the situation, and the necessary discussions at the NATO and EU level will be held in the coming days.

Opened for four in Prague and Athens

The Greek side will respond positively to a possible meeting between Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, government spokesman Yannis Economou said yesterday, answering a question about a possible meeting in Prague. “If the Turkish president, who has blown up the climate between the two leaders with his statements, seeks a meeting, the Greek side will appreciate this and respond positively,” he said. And he added that “the red lines are known, the response and deconstruction to this outrageous, provocative, unacceptable rhetoric of Turkey in recent times is known.”