This article was published by Al Jazeera International.
ATHENS, Greece- Smarting from
its exclusion in Libyan peace talks, Greece scored a diplomatic win on Friday
when Libyan warlord Halifa Haftar paid an unexpected visit to Athens, on his
way to the UN-sponsored talks in Berlin.
Greece asked to be included
in the Berlin Process, as the talks are called, saying it has vital interests
at stake.
The Council of Ministers in
Tripoli signed a maritime jurisdiction agreement with Turkey last year that
claims waters Greece also sees as part of its own jurisdiction.
Haftar’s Libyan National Army
(LNA), based in Benghazi, is at war with the Libyan Government of National
Accord (GNA) led by Fayez al Sarraj, based in Tripoli.
Greek foreign minister Nikos
Dendias said Haftar
agreed that a ceasefire agreement had to recognise “the invalidity of the
illegal memoranda between Turkey and the Sarraj government.” The government
says Haftar has committed to negotiating a new maritime deal with Greece.
“Since we are not [at the
Berlin talks], we expect Germany, the host country, to be the guardian of the
European position on Libyan matters,” Dendias said.
The Berlin Process began in
2015, when Greece was still very much out of favour in Europe. That is when the
left-wing Syriza government faced down its European creditors, insisting on
better terms of repayment of 195bn euros in emergency loans.
The European Union denounced the Turkish-Libyan deal in
December and issued a strong statement in Greece’s favour. The agreement
“infringes upon the sovereign rights of third states, does not comply with the Law of
the Sea and cannot produce any legal consequences for third States,” the EU
summit conclusions said.
Russia, the
United States, Israel and Egypt also denounced the deal at the time, saying it
raises tensions in the eastern Mediterranean.
Germany has
invited several other EU members, Gulf states, the US, Russia and China to
attend talks, but refused to divulge why it did not invite Greece.
Hafter also
met with Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who has threatened to veto
any peace agreement that displeases Greece.
“I want to be clear. Greece will never accept a political
solution for Libya that doesn't scrap the illegal ‘Turkey-Libya memorandum of
understanding’,” Mitsotakis tweeted on Thursday. “We will veto it before it
reaches the Summit. We will veto it at the foreign minister level.”
It was unclear
whether Greece would enjoy any opportunity to veto a UN peace agreement on
Libya.
“If there is a
peace agreement on Libya and Germany brings it to the European Union for
ratification, that is when Greece could have an opportunity to exercise a
veto,” international relations expert Kostas Yfantis told Al Jazeera.
Mitsotakis also
spoke on the phone with German chancellor Angela Merkel. “He asked Ms. Merkel
and other EU representatives present at the talks to implement the decision of
the last European Council,” his office said, a reference to the denunciation of
the Libya-Turkey agreement.
Greek-Turkish
acrimony over maritime jurisdiction goes back to 1973, when Greece discovered
oil in the north Aegean. The two countries nearly came to war when Turkey sent
a state exploration vessel, the Sismik, into north Aegean waters in 1987.
The stage is now
set for a similar confrontation.Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan on
Thursday said that the state exploration vessel Uruc Reis would this year begin
to conduct seismic tests in the Turkish portion of the maritime jurisdiction
agreement struck with Tripoli.
Turkish vessels
have already spent a year looking for oil and gas in waters claimed by EU
member Cyprus. The EU and US have called those explorations “illegal”.
“The
European Council unequivocally reaffirms its solidarity with Greece and Cyprus
regarding these actions by Turkey,” the EU said last month, in reference to
Turkish explorations offshore Cyprus.
Unlike
Cyprus, however, Greece has not agreed its maritime jurisdiction with
neighbours Albania, Italy, Libya, Egypt, Cyprus and Turkey.
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