By yesterday’s decision, a court in Libya suspended the agreement on the exploration of hydrocarbons, which the government of Tripoli signed last year with Turkey.

The Tripoli Court of Appeal, which issued yesterday’s decision, left room for the Tripoli government to appeal without elaborating on the reasoning behind the decision. It is also noted that the Tripoli government has not made any direct comment on Monday’s court decision.

Yesterday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs served a note verbale to the Libyan embassy in Athens, refuting the non-existent complaints about “illegal” actions of research vessel SANCO SWIFT.

According to diplomatic sources, the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs states that the seismic surveys carried out by the research vessel south of the Peloponnese and south-west of Crete are taking place in areas of Greek jurisdiction, in accordance with the rules of the International Law of the Sea.

The coordinates of the areas in which the surveys are carried out are accessible to all interested parties through the publication of relevant NAVTEX. The Greek side welcomes the reference to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) by the Libyan side.

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However, as diplomatic sources report, it reminds the Libyan side that the two illegal and non-existent memoranda of understanding it has signed with Turkey (November 2019 and October 2022) flagrantly violate fundamental provisions of UNCLOS which also reflect rules of customary international law.

In addition, the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasizes that these illegal memoranda ignore and violate Greece’s sovereign rights over its continental shelf as well as its sovereign rights and jurisdiction over its Exclusive Economic Zone.

Through the note verbale, the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs once again rejects the said memoranda, something it has done in the past with relevant Notes Verbales.

In the context of the historical ties of friendship between the two countries and their peoples, the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs reiterates the desire for the resumption of bilateral cooperation in a spirit of mutual trust.

Finally, with the aforementioned note verbale, Greece expresses once again its readiness to continue negotiations in respect of delimitation with the Libyan government that will emerge after the elections.

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