Why is Athens irked over a Turkey-Libya deal to draw maritime zones in the Med?

In this week’s episode of “Explaining Greece”, we speak with Maria Gavouneli, a professor of International Law at the National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, and the director general of the Athens-based Hellenic Foundation for European & Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP), regarding an issue that since 2019 has soured relations between Greece and the fractured and still unstable North African country of Libya.

The issue is none other than a controversial Turkey-Libya maritime MoU signed by Ankara and the internationally recognized Government of National Unity in Tripoli, an accord subsequently used to delimitate exclusive economic zones (EEZs) between two countries that do not directly face each other across any body of water. The latter was essentially accomplished by “erasing” all Greek island territory between them – something that contravenes international law.

The issue may appear as “obscure”, compared with the outright warfare and multiple conflicts affecting the wider region, especially in the Middle East, yet it has added another element of antagonism between Greece and Turkey over their conflicting claims and interpretation of international maritime law in both the Aegean and the eastern Mediterranean.

Greece considers the accord as illegal and baseless, a view now officially shared by the European Union, as well as Egypt, which is affected by the agreement.

On her part, Prof. Gavouneli explains the intricacies of maritime case law and the UN’s Convention on the Law of the Sea, as well as the legal and geographic terms widely used but often poorly understood, and how they apply to this case. She also covers Athens’ standing positions on delimitating continental shelfs and the now more expansive concept of Exclusive Economic Zones.

The issue resurfaced on the Greek government’s “radar” and made media headlines this summer with reports that the rival Government of National Stability and its affiliated Tobruk-based House of Representatives, which controls east Libya and much of the central part of the massive country, is now reconsidering its earlier opposition to the Tripoli-based government’s deal with Turkey.

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