Page 4 - AfrOil Week 50 2019

AfrOil COMMENTARY AfrOil
The areas claimed by Libya and Turkey come very close to the Greek island of Crete (Image: AnadoluPetroleum)
Turkish-Libyan maritime accord raising tensions in Mediterranean
Greece and Cyprus vehemently oppose the bilateral agreement, which Turkey’s president sees as the basis for additional oil and gas exploration
WHAT:
Turkey and Libya have claims that overlap with areas claimed by two EU member states.
WHY:
Libya’s participation is rooted in the battle between the GNA and the LNA.
WHAT NEXT:
Erdogan is talking about conducting joint exploration projects with Libya and blocking construction of the EastMed gas pipeline.
LATE last month, Libya’s Government of National Accord (GNA) signed an agreement with Turkey on maritime borders in the Med- iterranean Sea.
The accord delineates the sections of the Mediterranean – including the sea floor as well as the waters – that each side claims as its own. It carves out a slanting sea corridor of boundaries at the closest points between Libya and Turkey
The deal has sparked no small amount of controversy, as it attempts to establish bound- ary lines that run the shortest distance possible between the two countries, rather than follow- ing median lines that take into account the con- tinental shelves of nearby countries – namely, Cyprus and Greece.
Greece and Cyprus
Not surprisingly, the deal was immediately con- demned by the Greek government as “a blatant violation of international law,” particularly as
it fails to take into account the presence of the Greek island of Crete.
Athens went on to expel the Libyan ambas- sador in early December and has continued to insist that the agreement does not take into account the presence of Crete and infringes upon Greece’s continental shelf.
“This agreement was compiled in bad faith,” government spokesman Stelios Petsas was quoted as saying by Reuters on December 10. “It violates the [UN] Law of the Sea. The sea zones of Turkey and Libya do not meet ... nor is there a sea border between the two states.”
Petsas added that Greece had asked the European Union to formulate a framework of sanctions to be applied to Turkey and Libya if
the agreement was not withdrawn. (Turkey is already facing possible EU sanctions for drill-
ing around Cyprus, and that Nicosia claims that
these activities infringe upon its exclusive eco-
nomic zone, or EEZ.) 
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 50 18•December•2019