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Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Thursday called the Türkiye-Libya maritime deal "blatantly illegal, null and void," days after Libya’s House of Representatives (HoR) approved the 2019 accord, which Ankara and Libyan leaders across the political divide describe as legitimate.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said the agreement was "entirely legitimate" both legally and politically, while Libyan officials in the east and west hailed it as a step toward protecting Libya’s maritime rights.
"It completely disregards the geography, the reality that there are Greek islands—they seem to completely disappear in the thinking of Türkiye and Libya," Mitsotakis told Reuters as Greece ended its U.N. Security Council presidency.
Mitsotakis claimed that the two countries are trying to create a "fait accompli" that ignores the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, and urged Libya to negotiate directly with Athens. Egypt, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have also criticized the deal.
"This is an entirely legitimate agreement, both from a legal and a political perspective. There is no need to debate it," the top Turkish diplomat told state-run Anadolu Agency (AA) in Brussels.
"We understand why these countries are reacting. Some are reacting because they feel they are expected to do so, while others genuinely have strategic concerns regarding this issue," he said.
"According to our legal experts, what took place in the Libyan House of Representatives was essentially an act of acceptance rather than ratification," Fidan said, noting, "From our perspective, we have regarded this as a valid agreement since 2019."
"The trust that our Libyan brothers have placed in Türkiye, as well as the stability this agreement will bring to the Eastern Mediterranean, is of tremendous importance," he added.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said reactions from the EU and others had no legitimate basis.
Libya’s House of Representatives unanimously approved the memorandum on Oct. 20, repealing a 2020 resolution rejecting it and another calling for severing ties with Ankara.
Türkiye's Foreign Ministry welcomed the decision, saying the memorandum, "based on the principles of international law and equity," safeguards both countries’ rights and strengthens cooperation.
Saddam Haftar, deputy commander of forces in eastern Libya, said the deal could "help protect Libya’s rights and economic interests in the Mediterranean and advance shared interests with Türkiye as an influential regional power."
The Tripoli-based Government of National Unity’s Foreign Ministry, the High Council of State and Presidential Council Vice Chairman Musa Al-Koni also welcomed the vote.
The Türkiye-Libya maritime deal was signed in November 2019 to delimit the two countries' maritime jurisdiction areas in the Mediterranean.
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Greek PM Mitsotakis also called for an urgent "international truce" to protect Black Sea shipping after a Greek-managed container ship sank off Bulgaria following a drone attack.
"We do need some sort of international truce when it comes to the freedom of navigation," he said, adding that Greek shipowners would be the first to resume trading in the Black Sea "assuming a safe passage is guaranteed."
He urged the EU to bolster its Aspides naval mission in the Red Sea and reaffirmed support for sanctions on Russia.
Greece has awarded a Chevron-led consortium a license to explore for gas off Crete, and Mitsotakis said: "there’s no risk that these explorations will be in any way challenged."
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