Greece’s UN representative, Evangelos Sekeris, has expressed concern to Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres over Libya’s recent declaration of a 24-nautical mile contiguous zone. He argued that it violates international law in three key aspects.
The letter, dated 17 January, claimed that the northern limits of Libya’s contiguous zone in the Gulf of Sirte are unjustifiably measured from a closing line, across the gulf’s mouth.
Greece has consistently contested Libya’s claim to the Gulf of Sirte since 1974.
The Greek official said that the remaining limits of the declared contiguous zone are based on straight baselines, established by Libya in 2005.
The letter added that the eastern limit of Libya’s claimed contiguous zone, was determined by the Turkey-Libya maritime boundaries deal of 2019. Greece has strongly rejected this demarcation agreement, considering it null and void, and a blatant violation of fundamental rules of international law of the sea.
The letter concludes by affirming Greece’s commitment to resolving delimitation issues in the eastern Mediterranean peacefully, in good faith, and in accordance with the law of the sea. It cited successful resolutions with Italy and Egypt as examples.
In 2022, Turkey’s former Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu said that Ankara, along with the Tripoli-based government in Libya, were together protesting against seismic surveys and drilling that Greece was due to carry out, south of Crete, according to Greece’s Ekathimerini newspaper.
The Libyan Foreign Ministry at the time denounced Greece’s “irresponsible acts” in the Mediterranean. The Libyan Foreign Ministry claimed that Athens had contracted with some international companies to conduct gas and oil exploration in the disputed Libyan-Greek maritime borders, specifically to the south and southwest of Crete.
The Foreign Ministry stated that “it will continue to defend Libya’s maritime borders, with all possible legal and diplomatic means.”
“Greece is working hard to exploit the Libyan crisis and impose a fait accompli in defining the Libyan-Greek maritime borders,” the statement said.
Tensions rose after Libya and Turkey signed a series of economic agreements, that included potential energy exploration in maritime areas.