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Greece’s foreign minister said on Monday that a 2019 Turkey-Libya maritime boundaries deal remained “null and void” as he delivered a joint statement on behalf of Greece, Egypt, Cyprus, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and the European Union.
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“The memorandum in question remains null and void and without legal effect, runs counter to international law and cannot serve as a lawful basis for the delimitation of maritime zones, nor can it produce legal consequences for third states,” Giorgos Gerapetritis said.
The statement responded to the recent decision by Libya’s House of Representatives to ratify the 2019 Turkish-Libyan memorandum on the delimitation of maritime jurisdiction areas in the Mediterranean, which, it said, “raises serious concerns for regional security and stability.”
The statement also highlighted a broader challenge to the international legal order, namely “the need to ensure that arbitrary bilateral agreements do not undermine the established rules of international law or prejudice the rights of third states.”
Gerapetritis underlined that international law and, in particular, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), as well as customary international law, provide the legal framework for the delimitation of maritime zones.
These rules, he said, are “of fundamental importance for safeguarding predictability, legal certainty and peaceful relations among states.”
He also warned that accepting bilateral agreements that disregard the applicable rules and principles of international law “would create a dangerous precedent, undermining the international legal order and the principles on which the peaceful settlement of disputes is based.”
According to the statement, the memorandum violates these fundamental principles as it “ignores the geographical reality and the rights of all the coastal states involved over maritime zones, including the rights of islands in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.”
“The subsequent decision of Libya’s House of Representatives does not alter this legal reality,” it added.
The signatories reaffirmed their commitment “to the reunification of Libya’s institutions and to the prospect of a united and prosperous Libya,” while stressing that a stable Libya, engaging actively in regional cooperation, was essential for peace and security in the Mediterranean.
They also said that the country’s political transition and its relations with its neighbours “must be governed by respect for international law and good-neighbourly relations.”
