Turkey on Tuesday lashed out at Brussels and Athens for their stern objections to a hydrocarbon exploration deal Ankara signed with Libya, saying that the European Union and its member states should “not overstep their boundaries and powers.”
“Objecting to a pact signed by two sovereign states is against international law and the basic principles of the United Nations,” a spokesman for Turkey Foreign Ministry was quoted by the state-run Anadolu Agency as saying.
“The EU’s support for Greece’s maximalist demands and its stance of avoiding sincere dialogue and obstructing international judicial procedures is against both its own acquis and international law. The EU is not an international judicial body to comment on or adjudicate on agreements between sovereign third countries,” Tanju Bilgic said.
“The Greek and EU remarks on Turkey’s agreement with Libya on hydrocarbons have no importance or value,” he added.
The deal, signed by Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Çavusoglu with the Tripoli-based Libyan government on Monday, allows for oil and gas exploration in Libya’s Mediterranean waters, three years after a maritime border deal that angered European nations.
The European Union have declared that Turkey’s agreement with Libya is “against Law of the Sea and infringes on third states’ rights.”
EU: Libya-Turkey hydrocarbons deal potentially undermines regional stability