Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said the country will not give up its sovereign rights on anyone’s orders. With such a statement, the Prime Minister made at the ceremony of consecrating the waters on the island of Gavdos, located south of Crete.
Mitsotakis took part in the celebration of Epiphany, which is celebrated in Greece on January 6, since the Greek Orthodox Church lives according to the New Julian calendar. In Greece, Epiphany is a public holiday and a public holiday.
“We are located at the southernmost point of Europe , in the Libyan Sea. Here the Greek flag is flying in the Mediterranean Sea , a place that should become a place of peaceful coexistence for all Mediterranean countries. I want to repeat here, from Gavdos, that Greece does not accept proposals that how to exercise your sovereignty and your sovereign rights,” Mitsotakis said.
Greece says it has the right under the UN convention on the law of the sea to expand its territorial waters from 6 miles to 12 miles. foreign and defense ministers Earlier, Turkish said that if Greece expands its territorial waters in the Aegean to 12 miles , then it will face consequences. Turkey says it will consider this a casus belli. On this occasion, the Turkish Parliament adopted a decision in 1995. Turkey believes that by expanding Greece’s territorial waters, Greece will practically block Turkey’s ability to enter international waters, and Turkey will be locked in its territorial waters.
Mitsotakis said that on the basis of international law, any differences can be resolved peacefully.
“We have proven this by delimiting the exclusive economic zone with Egypt and Italy . We also know that this is the way to resolve any other differences that we have with our neighbors. Here, west of Gavdos, for the first time under our own government after many years delays, studies have begun to determine the presence of natural gas deposits that the Hellenic Republic can develop.
I also call here from Gavdos, all the neighboring states of Greece, and specifically I mean Libya , to come to fruitful and meaningful negotiations with our homeland so that we could demarcate exclusive economic zones with our geographical neighbors,” the Prime Minister of Greece said.
Greece has done this with Egypt, he said, and may do so with Libya as soon as a government is formed in Libya with the authority to conclude such international agreements.
Conflicts of interest
Greece considers illegal and does not recognize the memorandum of understanding on the delimitation of maritime zones between Turkey and Libya, concluded in 2019. These zones extend, in particular, to the Greek island of Rhodes and the eastern part of the island of Crete.
Turkey has published a map of maritime zones “taking into account the Turkish-Libyan memorandum”, according to which a significant part of the waters that Greece considers its exclusive economic zone departs to Turkey. Athens accused Ankara of encroaching on the sovereign rights of Greece and trying to change the map of the EEZ. Ankara stated that the memorandum is based on international law.
Greece also considers illegal the Turkish-Libyan agreement on the joint exploitation of hydrocarbon deposits, which was signed in October 2022 by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the interim government of Libya, Najla Mankoush, and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.
In turn, the Libyan interim government accuses Greece of violating international law.
in Tripoli On December 7, 2022, the Foreign Ministry of the Libyan interim government accused the Greek authorities of concluding contracts with international companies to conduct geological exploration on the joint maritime border. According to the Foreign Ministry of the Government of National Unity (GNU) of Libya, the Greek authorities have entered into agreements with foreign companies for exploration in disputed areas south and southwest of the island of Crete. Official Tripoli said that in this way Athens “takes advantage of the ongoing crisis in Libya and imposes a policy of a fait accompli.” The Libyan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation condemned the “irresponsible actions of the Greek authorities.”
Greece concluded agreements with Italy and Egypt in 2020 on the delimitation of maritime zones. The zones designated in the Turkish-Libyan memorandum and the Greek-Egyptian agreement intersect near Rhodes and Crete.
