Greece submitted its response to Libya’s letter to the UN of May 27, in which Libya recorded its claims against Greece based on the Turkey-Libya Memorandum and even included a map of these claims. The Greek response was delivered to the UN on September 3.

The lengthy Greek letter addresses all of Libya’s arguments, rejecting the Turkey-Libya Memorandum from the outset, and lays out Greece’s positions on the issues raised by Libya: the two plots southwest and west of Crete, maritime spatial planning, as well as the legality of the Greece-Egypt agreement and the decision on the delimitation of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the Ionian Sea.

This text could also serve as the basis of Greece’s positions in any future negotiations with Libya, and its recording of Greece’s positions and arguments is of particular importance, as on Wednesday the Libyan interim Foreign Minister will be in Athens, where, among other things, the Greek side will press for the establishment of a timetable for the start of talks on EEZ delimitation.

The memorandum “ignores the maritime rights of the Greek islands”

The Greek letter rejects Libya’s arguments regarding the Turkey-Libya Memorandum, pointing out, among other things, that Libya and Turkey do not share maritime borders because of the existence of Greek islands. As it specifically states, the memorandum “ignores the maritime rights of the Greek islands and seeks to distort geography in the Eastern Mediterranean.”

Regarding the claims about the Greece-Egypt agreement, the letter stresses that this agreement “was concluded between states with opposite coasts and in full compliance with the relevant provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.”

Athens completely rejects Libya’s claims that the plots west and southwest of Crete, as well as maritime spatial planning, violate Libya’s rights. Special reference is made to the boundaries established by the Greece-Egypt and Greece-Italy agreements, as well as to Law 4001/2011, which defines the external limit of the Greek EEZ as the median line until a bilateral agreement is reached.

On the median line

As for Libya’s claim that delimitation should be carried out along the median line “between the main coasts of Libya and Greece,” a position that reflects Turkey’s standard argument for drawing a median line only between “continental coasts,” the Greek response is categorical, stressing that:

“According to Article 121 of the Convention, which reflects customary international law, all Greek islands have maritime zones in the same way as any other land territory. Consequently, every median line between Greece and Libya must be drawn with reference to base points on the relevant Greek islands.”

On the delimitation of Libya’s EEZ outer limits

Athens also fully disputes the delimitation of the outer limits of Libya’s EEZ, as submitted to the UN on May 27, noting that it used questionable baselines as well as the “closure” of the Gulf of Sirte, which is illegal. Furthermore, the eastern part of the map submitted by Libya coincides with the illegal “delimitation” of the Turkey-Libya Memorandum, while in other parts of the map, the rights of the Greek islands are entirely denied. Greece has already responded by characterizing as illegal both the fishing zone and the contiguous zone declared by Libya.

Finally, Athens, while reserving its rights, declares its readiness to resume negotiations with the Libyan side on the delimitation of the respective maritime zones, in accordance with international law.