ATHENS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd June, 2020) Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias on Monday criticized Turkey for attempting to encroach upon Greece's sovereign rights, saying that Turkey's official newspaper published applications filed by the Turkish Petroleum Corporation to receive operation rights in the regions considered by Greece to be a part of its continental shelf.
"The publication in Turkey's Government Gazette of a series of applications submitted by the Turkish Petroleum Corporation for the granting of exploration and exploitation permits in regions within Greece's continental shelf, is one of many actions through which Turkey is attempting to usurp step-by-step Greece's sovereign rights ... Greece has been and remains fully prepared to respond to this provocation as well, should Turkey decide in the end to go through with it," Dendias said in a statement.
The diplomat noted that Turkey's actions followed the signing of the "null and void" memorandum by Turkey and Libya's Tripoli-based Government of National Accord.
Ankara and Tripoli signed the memorandum on maritime boundaries in the Mediterranean Sea on November 28. Greece, Cyprus, and Egypt were outraged by the move and said the pact infringed upon their sovereignty rights.
