Greek FM: We Will Prevent Turkey to Establish Military Bases in Libya

On Sunday, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said that the current Greek government did not have a lot of choices when it came to power, but the priority is to guarantee that the Libyan shores across  Crete are controlled by friendly powers.

In an interview with Greek Vima newspaper, Dendias said, "The Greek government has two basic goals represented in preventing the establishment of a Turkish military base in Libya and urging Prime Minister of the Government of National Accord (GNA) Fayez al-Sarraj to backtrack the Libyan memorandum of understanding signed with Ankara over maritime zones.

The Turkey-Libya deal was widely dismissed by Egypt, Cyprus, and Greece as an infringement on their economic rights in the oil-rich sea.

The top diplomat pointed out that Greece is open to exploratory talks with Turkey, but has no intention of accepting "an expansion of the agenda", as the neighboring country appears to want.

Dendias also stated, "As Europeans, we have not reached a consistent conclusion about the direction we want the relations with Turkey to take." Greece's strategy of the 1990s to seek the resolution of differences within the framework of the EU was courageous, but this is no longer feasible with Turkey's pergence."

Greece and Turkey have been at odds for decades over sea boundaries but recent discoveries of natural gas and drilling plans across the east Mediterranean have exacerbated the dispute