PERMANENT MISSION OF GREECE TO THE UNITED NATIONS
Ref No.
90.2.2/3065
New York, 9 December 2019
Excellency,
The Greek Government has been informed that a “Memorandum of Understanding between the
Government of Republic of Turkey and the Government of National Accord-State of
Libya, on delimitation of the maritime jurisdiction areas in the Mediterranean”,
was signed on 27 November 2019. This agreement was concluded in bad faith and
in violation of the rules of the International Law of the Sea on maritime
delimitation because, first and foremost, Turkey and Libya have neither
overlapping maritime zones nor common boundaries and, consequently, there is no
legal basis to lawfully conclude a maritime delimitation agreement. Likewise,
the agreement disregards the presence of the Greek islands in that maritime
area, including the island of Crete, and violates their right to generate
maritime zones, as any land territory, as Article 121 of the UNCLOS clearly
stipulates.
Furthermore, the boundaries of the purported “continental shelf and exclusive economic zone”,
as they are defined in the text of this agreement, are fictitious, unlawful,
arbitrary and provocative, and openly infringe on Greece’s sovereign rights in
that maritime area, thus seriously endangering regional peace and stability.
What is also
striking in the above agreement is that, in spite of the declared position of
Turkey that Greek islands in the Eastern Mediterranean have no weight for the
determination of the maritime boundaries in that area, the drafters of this
agreement have used Turkish islands and rocks as base points for the
construction of the purported ‘equidistance line’, as stated in article 1 para
3 of the said agreement and shown in the annexes thereto. This shows the
hypocritical and contradictory stance of Turkey concerning maritime
delimitation in the Eastern Mediterranean.
In addition, this agreement is null and void since it was
not endorsed by the House of Representatives of Libya, as required by Article 8
par. 2 (f) of the Libyan Political Agreement of 2015, approved by the United
Nations Security Council through Resolution 2259 (2015). Likewise, this
agreement was unequivocally rejected by the President of the House of Representatives
of Libya, Aguila Saleh Issa, in a letter sent to the United Nations
Secretary-General.
Given that the said agreement is in clear violation of the
letter of the Libyan Political Agreement and, as was mentioned above, it
endangers regional peace and stability, its conclusion should be urgently
brought to the attention of the Security Council. In this respect Greece wishes
to recall paragraph 19 of Resolution 2259 (2015), which refers to the implementation
of the Libyan Political Agreement, including acts that disrupt or prevent its
implementation.
The Greek Government expresses its strong opposition to the
unlawful delimitation aimed at by the above agreement, which illegally overlaps
on zones of legitimate and exclusive Greek sovereign rights, and rejects it in
its entirety as null and void and without any effect on its sovereign rights.
On this occasion, Greece wishes to reiterate its
strong commitment to resolve any delimitation issue with neighbouring countries
in the Eastern Mediterranean by peaceful means, in good faith and in accordance
with the international law of the sea. It was in that spirit that Greece and
Libya started some years ago to negotiate, in line with the provisions of the
UNCLOS, a maritime delimitation agreement, which, however, was disrupted
because of the unfortunate events in that country. Negotiations are also
currently taking place between Greece and Egypt regarding the delimitation of
their common maritime boundaries.
In the light of the above, Greece requests the
Security Council to condemn the conclusion of the said Memorandum which
blatantly contravenes international legality and call on the two States
concerned to refrain from any action that would violate the sovereign rights of
Greece, or would escalate tensions in this region.
Please accept, Excellency, the assurances of my
highest consideration.
Maria Theofili
Ambassador
Permanent Representative
H.E. Mrs. Kelly Craft
Permanent Representative of the United States to
the United Nations
President of the Security Council for the month
of December 2019
