Greek foreign minister makes whirlwind regional tour amid sea dispute

Greece's foreign minister was on a whirlwind tour of eastern Libya, Egypt and Cyprus Sunday amid tensions with Turkey following Ankara's contentious maritime deal with the Tripoli government. The agreement signed last month expands Turkey's claims over a large gas-rich area of the Mediterranean and has been denounced by Greece, Egypt and Cyprus.

Nikos Dendias met Libya's eastern-based strongman Khalifa Haftar in Benghazi to discuss two recent "unsubstantial" agreements between Turkey and Libya's Tripoli government, according to a Greek foreign ministry statement. Libya is split between bitterly opposed administrations in the east and west. Since April, forces loyal to Haftar have been fighting to seize the capital Tripoli.

In November, Tripoli's UN-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) signed the controversial maritime delimitation deal with Ankara, alongside a military cooperation agreement. Athens says the maritime agreement violates international maritime law and the sovereign rights of Greece and other states, urging the United Nations on December 10 to condemn the deal as "disruptive" to regional peace and stability.

Dendias said Haftar agreed with Greece on the "absolute nullity of these memoranda and how harmful they are" to Libya and regional stability. Dendias then flew to Cairo, where he met his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry for talks aimed at unifying opposition to the maritime deal.

Earlier this month Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi denounced Turkey's expansion of ties with the Tripoli-based government. "We will not allow anyone to control Libya it is a matter of Egyptian national security," Sisi told reporters, referring to the military cooperation deal struck between Ankara and the GNA.