Greece calls on Libyan government to cancel maritime deal with Turkey

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis called on Libya to void a 2019 maritime agreement with Turkey.

“The annulment of illegal documents is very important,” Mitsotakis said during a visit to the Libyan capital Tripoli on Tuesday, the Greek Reporter said.

Ankara and the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) which is mainly backed by Turkey against Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA), signed a military cooperation deal and the maritime accord in November 2019.

The agreement signed on Nov. 27 of that year, ignores territorial waters around the divided island of Cyprus and a number of Greek islands, including Crete. Greece, Cyprus and Egypt, which seek to build a pipeline carrying gas to Europe across those waters, have all objected to the deal.

The European Union and the United States also rejected the agreement.

In order to improve bilateral relations between Libya and Greece, all the foreign troops should also immediately and completely withdraw from Libya, Mitsotakis said in a joint press briefing with Libyan Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, the Greek Reporter said.

After the GNA requested assistance under the defence pact, Turkey deployed military forces to Libya in January last year. Ankara has also deployed Syrian mercenaries to the North African country.

According to United Nations reports, there are about ten foreign bases on Libyan soil and thousands of military personnel and mercenaries dispatched by Turkey, Russia and other countries.