Greece aims to restore relations with Libya by reopening embassy

Greece’s embassy in Libya was reopened by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in a visit to the North African country yesterday, aiming for a reset of relations soured by the Tripoli government’s 2019 maritime boundary agreement with Turkey, Reuters reports.

According to the report, Mitsotakis’ visit, to restart diplomatic relations seven years after the embassy was closed due to Libya’s civil war, offered a chance for a new start following the disputed accord in 2019 between Turkey and the internationally backed Libyan government.

“It’s time to leave behind what has tested our relations in the past,” Mitsotakis said in televised remarks alongside Libya’s interim Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah.

Mitsotakis said the agreement had no legal force and should be cancelled, adding: “It is geography that determines the framework of our bilateral relations, and not artificial lines that somebody draws on maps.”

In 2020, Greece and Egypt signed an agreement designating an exclusive economic zone in the eastern Mediterranean, which Turkey has said infringes its own continental shelf, and which overlaps with the maritime zones it agreed with Libya.

Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias is due to visit Ankara next week for talks.

READ: EU report on Turkey ‘positive’ but has ‘shortcomings’