For the first time ever, Greece brought the illegal 2019 Turkey-Libya maritime memorandum before the UN Security Council...

For the first time ever, Greece brought the illegal 2019 Turkey-Libya maritime memorandum before the UN Security Council, calling it a direct threat to stability in the Eastern Mediterranean. Ambassador Aglaia Balta, acting on instructions from Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis, raised the issue in closed-door consultations with Council members on Thursday. The timing carries weight. Greece currently holds the UN Security Council presidency, giving Balta a platform she used in her national capacity to press the case directly. She told Council members that "geography does not change" and that the international Law of the Sea cannot be rewritten through unilateral decisions, no matter what any parliament ratifies. The trigger was eastern Libya's parliament ratifying the memorandum, a deal widely condemned as illegal because it ignores the existence of Greek islands like Crete and Kastellorizo. France, a permanent member of the Security Council, already declared the memorandum void back in 2020. Cyprus, Egypt, and Italy have all formally registered their opposition through official UN correspondence over the years. Balta made clear that Greece had engaged with Libyan authorities in good faith on maritime delimitation talks, but said that Libya's stability cannot be built on destabilizing neighboring countries. She called for an end to foreign interference in Libya and urged the unification of Libyan institutions, while drawing a firm line: none of that can come at the cost of Greek sovereignty or international law. The move signals Greece is escalating diplomatically after years of communicating its position mainly through letters and maps. Getting the issue on the Security Council's agenda, even informally, is a significant step up. #Greece #Turkey #UNSecurityCouncil