OMM Newsroom
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has called a maritime boundary agreement between Turkey and the eastern parliament of Libya “manifestly illegal, invalid and void.”
Mitsotakis made the remarks in an interview with Reuters ahead of the end of Greece’s presidency of the UN Security Council. He called for an urgent international ceasefire to protect shipping in the Black Sea. His statement came a day after a Greek-owned container ship sank in the sea.
Libya’s eastern-based parliament approved the maritime agreement with Turkey last week. The document was first signed in 2019.
Greece, Egypt, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates condemned the approval, saying the agreement threatened regional security and the international legal order.
“Greek islands seem to disappear entirely”
“This completely ignores geography and reality: Greek islands exist, but in the thinking of Turkey and Libya they seem to disappear entirely,” Mitsotakis said.
He accused the two countries of trying to “present us with a fait accompli” without taking the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea into account.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said criticism from the EU and other parties of the agreement’s approval had no legitimate basis and defended Ankara’s policy in the eastern Mediterranean.
After the 2019 agreement, Greece granted a consortium led by Chevron a licence to explore for gas off the coast of Crete. Athens has also sought to sign its own agreement with Libya to delimit the maritime zones of the two countries.
“There is no risk of these exploration activities being challenged in any way,” Mitsotakis said.
Calling Greece and Libya “natural neighbours,” the prime minister urged Libya to begin direct talks with Athens and to take the discussions “very, very seriously.”
Mitsotakis spoke to Reuters after chairing a Security Council discussion on maritime security. Hours earlier, a Greek-owned container ship sank off the Bulgarian coast after coming under attack from sea drones. It was the latest in a series of attacks on vessels in the western Black Sea during the month.
It was not immediately clear who carried out the attack. The incident heightened concerns about the impact of Russia’s war against Ukraine on commercial shipping in the region.
Ships operated by Greek companies make up one of the world’s largest tanker fleets and play a major role in Black Sea trade. Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania and Turkey, as well as Russia and Ukraine, use the waters of the sea.
“When it comes to freedom of navigation, we need some form of international ceasefire,” Mitsotakis said. He called the delivery of grain exports from the region to world markets via the Black Sea “the most important priority.”
“Ukraine’s grain is at risk of rotting”
Mitsotakis said Greek shipowners were ready to return to the Black Sea if conditions allowed.
“If safe passage is guaranteed, Greek shipowners would be the first to resume shipments in the Black Sea, including from Ukraine,” he said. The prime minister added that freight and insurance costs had “risen sharply.”
Ukraine depends financially on exporting its products, he said. “They have had a good harvest, but the grain is now sitting in storage and is at risk of rotting.”
“Unfortunately, Russia does not seem interested in engaging in substantive discussions at the moment,” Mitsotakis said.
Call to strengthen the Aspides mission
Mitsotakis urged the European Union to strengthen its Aspides naval mission, which protects shipping in the Red Sea. The mission was established in 2024 in response to attacks by the Iran-aligned Houthis in Yemen.
Rising tensions between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia have disrupted oil supplies and increased the risk of a wider regional conflict, eight months after US and Israeli strikes on Iran. The Houthis said this week they had attacked Saudi military aircraft and halted the advance of Saudi-backed forces near the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a key Red Sea shipping route.
“My argument is simple: the European Union has an interest in having a real, tangible presence in this part of the world, and we need more countries to take part in Aspides,” Mitsotakis said.
He said Greece, Italy and France had committed “resources” to the mission, but that this was “clearly not enough.” According to diplomats who spoke to Reuters, six military vessels were operating under the mission at the end of September.
“If we want to show the Gulf countries that we take their security seriously, while also protecting key transport corridors and waterways that are extremely important for European trade, we must be ready to send more resources to this part of the world,” he said.
Asked about US President Donald Trump’s decision earlier this month to lift sanctions on diesel exports from Russia, Mitsotakis said Greece continued to support sanctions against Moscow.
“We must exert economic pressure on Russia and increase its financial losses to send a clear signal that it will face concrete economic consequences for as long as it continues the war,” he said.
