The maritime boundary agreement reached between Turkey and Libya, which was ratified by the Libyan parliament on Tuesday, “infringes on the sovereign rights of third states”, the European Union’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Wednesday, after she met Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in Brussels.
“I had an extensive discussion with my colleague Hakan Fidan on a range of issues. Good neighbourly relations and advancing the Cyprus settlement process are of high importance. I raised yesterday’s Libyan vote … and stressed that it infringes upon the sovereign rights of third states,” she said after the meeting.
Away from the matter of the eastern Mediterranean, she said that she had also spoken to Fidan about “Russia’s dangerous Black Sea escalation”, which has seen commercial vessels be targeted by missile fire, and that she had “emphasised the need to step up the pressure on Moscow to end the war”.
“The EU and Turkey both support a Black Sea freedom of navigation arrangement,” she said.
She said that she and Fidan had also “addressed developments in the south Caucasus and across the Middle East”, and on this front said that “Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia and Yemen are textbook terror tactics and must end”, and that “in the Strait of Hormuz, Iran is making shipping dangerous and expenses”.
“Freedom of navigation must be restored without tolls or fees,” she added.
Fidan made no statement after the meeting.
Greece, Cyprus believe islands are entitled to full EEZ
The maritime agreement was unanimously passed by Libya’s parliament on Tuesday, some seven years after it had initially been signed by the internationally recognised Libyan government and Turkey in 2019.
However, Greece and the Republic of Cyprus object to the deal, saying that Turkey and Libya do not share a maritime border because islands are each entitled to a full exclusive economic zone, and that therefore, the sea in question belongs to Cyprus and Crete. Turkey’s position is that islands are not entitled to a full EEZ.
Wednesday’s meeting came after European Council President Antonio Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had said that they “deeply regret” the Libyan parliament’s ratification of the deal, which, they said, “infringes upon the sovereign rights of third states”, “does not comply with the law of the sea”, and “is null and void”.
“We reaffirm our solidarity with Greece and Cyprus. We reiterate the EU’s well-known position against any outside interference in Libya,” they said.
On the other side of the argument, Turkey’s presidential press office director Burhanettin Duran described Tuesday’s vote as “an important advancement towards protecting the shared rights and interests of both nations in the eastern Mediterranean, establishing maritime jurisdiction areas on the basis of equity, and strengthening regional cooperation”.
“Under the leadership of our President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey will continue to safeguard its rights and interests within the Blue Homeland, while further developing its relations with friendly and brotherly Libya and promoting equitable resource sharing, peace, and stability in the eastern Mediterranean”.