Noting that Hellas always acts with full respect international law as well as law of the sea, and sending a message that Athens hopes to cooperate with the next elected government of Libya, the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded yesterday to a new challenge from the Tripoli administration: the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the interim government this time blames our country for the decision to search for hydrocarbons to the south and southwest of Crete, adding that he “will continue to defend Libya’s maritime borders and sovereign rights in its maritime areas by all possible legal and diplomatic means.” It is recalled that the Ministry is headed by Ms. Naila Mangus, who recently signed the Turkish-Libyan agreement with Mr. Cavusoglu, based on the illegal Turkish-Libyan “memorandum” of 2019 and condemned by the international community.

“Unlike those who enter into illegal and non-existent “memorandums” that ignore and circumvent the basic norms of international law and the law of the sea, Greece exercises its sovereign rights in full respect of international law and the law of the sea. He also did something in the demarcation of the EEZ with Egypt and Italy,” Greek Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexandros Papaioannou said in a statement, answering a question about the aforementioned Tripoli move. “It is the duty of the Libyan Transitional Government to lead the country to elections immediately,” emphasizes Mr. Papaioannou and adds: “We look forward to cooperating in a spirit of honesty and mutual respect and always within the rules of international law and the law of the sea with the elected government of Libya, which will have the legitimacy and authority to conclude valid international agreements in accordance with the 2020 Libya Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF) Roadmap.

It is recalled that the southern boundary of NAVTEX for filming south of Crete is the median line between Greece (mainland and insular) and Libya, based on a proposal presented in 2011 by Tripoli in the latest negotiations at that time with Athens.

As K wrote, finally, the choice of Athens to conduct investigations in this particular area also contained a message about the intention to negotiate with Libya on the delimitation of maritime zones over the territory in which resources can be hidden that will be exploited in a mutually beneficial way for both countries.