EU to reject Turkey-Libya border deal in support of Greece

The European Union is set to reject the maritime border agreement between Libya and Turkey, and in support of Greece, EU leaders will say it’s a violation of international law.

According to a draft summit statement seen by Reuters and Associated Press, the European Union leaders are set to reject the maritime border agreement between Turkey and Libya as invalid and insist that the pact interferes with the rights of other countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea.

Greece last week expelled the Libyan ambassador in response to the agreement, infuriated at a pact that skirts the Greek island of Crete and infringes its continental shelf.

“The Turkey-Libya memorandum of understanding on the delimitation of maritime jurisdictions in the Mediterranean Sea infringes upon the sovereign rights of third States (and) does not comply with the (U.N.) Law of the Sea,” EU leaders will say, according to the draft statement prepared for a two-day summit from Brussels.

“The European Council unequivocally reaffirms its solidarity with Greece and Cyprus regarding these actions by Turkey,” the draft also states.

The border deal, endorsed by the Turkish parliament last week, has increased tensions in Ankara’s long-running dispute with Greece, Cyprus, and Egypt over oil and gas drilling rights in the eastern Mediterranean.

The three countries, which lie between Turkey and Libya, have blasted the maritime border accord as being contrary to international law.

*Source: Reuters and Associated Press