Evangelos Sekeris, the Permanent Representative of Greece to the United Nations (UN), submitted a stern letter to the United Nations on Jan. 17 responding to Libya’s action to submit its own letter to the organization, declaring an adjacent zone, as contrary to International Law and the Law of the Sea. In essence, Greece argues that Libya’s move reinstates the illegegitimate Turkish-Libyan memorandum.
As reported on ERT TV, Greece states that the coordinates and the map contained in the Libyan letter are contrary to International Law and the Law of the Sea for the following three reasons:
– It blocks the Gulf of Sirte to which Greece is opposed to since 1974.
– It uses straight baselines which is contrary to International Law and Greece has expressed its opposition to since 2005.
-The coordinates submitted by Libya follow the illegal demarcation of the Turkish-Libyan memorandum of 2019.
Greece reiterates that the Turkish-Libyan memorandum is illegal emphasizing that any actions based on the coordinates it stipulates are also illegal, further highlighting that such actions do not prejudice the rights granted to Greece by International Law. Greece finally emphasizes that any issues regarding delineations in the Eastern Mediterranean should be resolved peacefully, based on International Law and the Law of the Sea.
