Joint Turkish-Libyan letter to the UN
Two countries send protest against Greece’s planned energy exploration southwest of Crete
Raising the stakes further, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Tuesday that Ankara, along with the Tripoli-based government in Libya, had moved together to protest against seismic surveys and drilling that Greece will carry out south of Crete.
In his speech at the Turkish parliament’s budget debate, the Turkish foreign minister criticized Greece’s objections to the Turkish-Libyan memorandum on hydrocarbons signed in Tripoli in October.
“Last week, in view of Greece’s decision to carry out hydrocarbon activities in southern Crete, Libya took steps to defend the Maritime Jurisdiction Agreement it signed with Turkey. Again, last week, curiously, Greece complained to the United Nations about the Hydrocarbons Agreement we signed with Libya in October,” he noted.
And in a bid to show how Ankara and Tripoli are in sync, he added that “immediately afterward, together with Libya, we sent our joint response in this letter to the UN with our permanent representatives in New York.”
“The difference, however, is that Greece’s letter contains demagoguery, as does its response to the letters we gave on the demilitarized islands, while our letter contains legal arguments. This achievement will determine the balance in the Eastern Mediterranean for generations to come,” he concluded.
For his part Turkey’s ambassador in Athens, Burak Ozugergin, said on Tuesday that Greece’s EEZ delimitation agreements with Italy and Egypt are an indication that a window of discussion between Athens and Ankara may open in the near future, possibly after the elections.
Speaking during a discussion at the Balkans & Black Sea Forum 2022 conference, the outgoing ambassador spoke about the need to promote energy security but not with zero-sum policies.
Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that Ankara sought Russia’s support and discussed mutual steps that could be taken in northern Syria, where Ankara is seeking to carry out a ground operation.
“We have asked for [Russian President Vladimir Putin’s] support to make mutual decisions and perhaps to act together here” in northern Syria, Erdogan told reporters in Ankara.
