Greek PM says Turkey-Libya pact has no legal merit, Ankara ‘isolated’

A few hours after Greece expelled the Libyan ambassador following a dispute over a controversial agreement signed between Libya’s UN-supported government and Turkey on maritime boundaries in the Mediterranean, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said that the pact has no legal merit and will collapse.

Speaking in Parliament on Friday, Mitsotakis said that the texts on which the memorandum of understanding was based “produce no legal effects.”

“They are oblivious to history and geography as they do not take Greek islands into account,” the conservative premier said, adding that Ankara’s move had pushed the NATO country into “unprecedented diplomatic isolation.”

“They have endorsed a document that they signed off themselves. It is recognized by no one and it means nothing,” Mitsotakis said. “We will do everything in our power to make sure it does not come into effect,” he added.

The Greek premier expressed his confidence that the European Union will throw its weight behind Greece as it tries to “defend its national and sovereign rights.”

“I believe that the deal will collapse,” he said.

Athens said on Friday it was expelling Libya’s ambassador to the country over the accord. Mohamed Younis AB Menfi had 72 hours to leave the country, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias told a news briefing. The move did not mean Greece was severing diplomatic relations with Libya, he said.