CAIRO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th November, 2022) Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias, who came to Tripoli on Thursday on an official visit, refused to leave the plane and flew away, the Libyan foreign ministry said.
Libyan Foreign Minister Najla Mangoush was personally waiting to welcome Dendias at the airport.
"However, there was an unexpected and outrageous situation - the minister refused to leave the plane and returned to where he arrived from without explaining the reasons," the ministry said in a statement obtained by Sputnik.
The ministry added that it condemned such behavior and promised to take appropriate measures.
The Greek Foreign Ministry said that Dendias did not cut short his visit to Libya but continued his trip to the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, where he is expected to discuss cooperation with Aguila Saleh, the speaker of the eastern-based Libyan parliament.
"Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikos Dendias' visit to Tripoli, where he was scheduled to meet with the Chairman of the Libyan Presidential Council, Mohamed al-Menfi, has been cancelled because the Libyan Ministry of Foreign Affairs failed to respect the agreement made that Mr. Dendias would not meet with the Libyan Foreign Minister," the statement read.
"The part of the Minister's visit to Eastern Libya is proceeding as planned," the ministry added.
Dendias announced last week his intention to delimit the exclusive economic zones between Greece and Libya as soon as there is an elected government in place in the Arab country.
Greece does not recognize the agreement Turkey signed with the Tripoli government.
Libya, Greece, and Turkey have been involved in a series of territorial disputes in the Aegean and Mediterranean seas for decades. The relationship between Greece and Libya soured after the former government of Libya � the Government of National Accord � signed a maritime boundary accord with Turkey in 2019, which caused diplomatic disputes. Turkey has published a map of sea zones that takes into account the Turkish-Libyan memorandum, according to which a significant part of the waters that Greece considers its exclusive economic zone go to Ankara.
Athens accused Ankara of encroaching on Greece's sovereign rights and trying to change the map of its exclusive economic zone, while Turkey claimed the memorandum was based on international law.
