It a fights over control of the Mediterranean Sea libya and turkey drop by injury line in the border it says it in the middle as the greek island of crete and sense the move violates International Law so whats at stake and could it lead to Armed Conflicts this is inside story. Hello and welcome to the program im hala mohit in greece and turkey are its holds over a host of issues but the latest has pushed them closer to a military confrontation so he has signed a deal with libya that map cites a boundary in the east of the Mediterranean Sea greece as responses by expelling the libyan ambassador and his bolstering its military in the area there are fears the agreements will further complicate disputes over drilling for yet untapped oil and gas in waters around the ethnically Divided Island nation of cyprus israel and egypt are also involved in this increasingly bitter controversy. Well the agreements between turkey and libya was signs at the end of last month that basically draws a line in the eastern Mediterranean Sea between turkey and libya cutting across a strip also claimed by greece well the matter of time boundaries separates what turkey and libya have agreed will be their exclusive Economic Zone they say this gives them full rights to. Exploit Natural Resources including oil and gas well the deal comes as turkish ships continue exploration and drilling activities in disputed waters around cyprus well bring in our guest shortly but 1st John Psaropoulos reports from athens. The Greek Foreign minister has summoned the libyan ambassador. And informed him this morning that he has 72 hours to leave the country the greek anger against libya stems from not only the fact that libya signed a treaty with turkey which deal linear its an exclusive Economic Zone between those 2 countries that falls across what greece sees as its own exclusive Economic Zone in the southeastern jian and the middle of the Mediterranean Sea but also because the Greek Foreign minister had understood from his discussions with the libyan ambassador and also with the Libyan Foreign minister that this agreement would not be signed so the greek side expresses the feeling that there has been an element of deceit from the Libyan Government or at least that the greek government was misled the greeks are also making contact with all of their key allies in the European Union and nato but also china and russia and israel together as much International Support as possible for the law of the sea which in the greek reading of it ascribed to islands a Continental Shelf and exclusive Economic Zone. If that reading of the law is correct then greek greece should have an exclusive Economic Zone that extends into the area thats now been divided between libya and turkey turkey has a different view it does not believe that the International Law of the sea necessarily gives islands an exclusive Economic Zone and it has held to that position very consistently over the years it also has its condemned to the expulsion of the libyan ambassador from athens the greek side were given to understand by defense and Foreign Policy sources has communicated to turkey in no Uncertain Terms that should a turkish exploration vessel enter the area that greece deems as its own exclusive Economic Zone then greek naval forces will fire upon that vessel and sink it with all of the repercussions that could follow from such an event. Well lets bring in todays guests joining us from london is a set in a Political Risk analyst focusing on turkey at i. H. S. Markets in istanbul on skype Matthew Price a senior fellow at the Atlantic CouncilsEurasia Center and Global Energy center and for former u. S. Diplomats and also joining us from london are general director of the said that institute where he focuses on Libyan Affairs gentlemen welcome to you all if i could start with you agha said skin this is a a controversial deal which has been proposed between libya and turkey its resulted in the expulsion of the libyan ambassador from greece why do you think this is so controversial whats wrong with this deal. Well i wont say theres something necessarily wrong with that but the controversy comes from the fact that this is turkeys move against what is being an attempt to create a fact a complete on its on the Southern Side of its of its territories by a coalition of countries including greece including factors and others. Of course having to do with the disputes of over the Hydrocarbon Resources around cyprus. In cyprus the cypriot government has been moving forward with plans to export those resources in a manner that would end up excluding turkey and with this deal with the Libyan Government. What turkey is trying to do is basically leapfrog the territory which would be the eventual route of a plan pipeline into europe from cyprus so this is turkeys response in what has been a long story thus far ok let me take those points Timothy Brize Matthew nothing wrong with this deal theyre simply reacting to a set a company. It very much depends who you are certainly if youre turkey that is your view you believe that because greece decided to drop its maritime time boundary in a way that you think is not in accordance with International Law whereby too much value is accorded to crete then you believe that greece has taken over Libyan Maritime territory and then as as we just heard has created a unified sort of collection of exclusive Economic Zones stretching from from cyprus all the way to greece where the pipeline could be built if youre greece however or cyprus or egypt you believe that turkey in fact should be granting the island of crete the greek island of crete greater force in determining the greek maritime boundary and in that case it wouldnt be fair for this new boundary to be to to be drawn so where you stand is where you sit as often happens in International Law and what ends up being right is simply what ends up being accepted as being right but you know this is an actual agreement between 2 internationally recognized countries and so while im not sure it will hold up in the long run for now turkey has and many have created a fait accompli so why do you think greece is so unhappy then if this is a given that why are they why are they so distressed to the point of expelling a bats a day. Well number one they want this pipeline which by the way i think does not make economic sense its such a much longer more expensive route and then bringing a lot of gas to especially from israel to turkey but number 2 theres a long history here of maritime disputes between turkey and greece and the central component of that dispute is again how valuable are islands in determining the National Coastline and the exclusive Economic Zone which is not sovereign territory of a country but its where countries have exclusive rights and this is such a testy issue between turkey and greece because many greek island. A but right up correctly against turkeys coast so if too much value is given to those islands in determining maritime boundaries turkey ends up risking getting bodily and losing so many rights in the Mediterranean Sea that it otherwise would enjoy and essentially cutting its Maritime Territory almost in half ok lets set said no to. Us and what were hearing this is a dispute between turkey and greece why is libya getting involved. Well the purists and the johnny come lately to this kind of spew into this this crowd of a crowd of kind of conflict for such a long time its been more than a couple of years its been decades as you and your guests of indicated but that we cant wrench this from its original context and libyas case its been involved in a conflict for the last 8 months. There have been a number of different challenges to the sovereignty to the human existentially to the Libyan Government to its base in tripoli from a father who is supported by many countries within the e. U. Or many countries within the u. N. Security council who have not kind of lived up to the to the expectations here diplomatically that the Libyan Government tripolis international reckon Us Government by the e. U. By the u. N. But the u. N. And the e. U. Have stood by idly as there has been bombing the capital tripoli and as been cutting into the into the southern neighborhoods of tripoli so in that sense libya has kind of waded into a conflict but it has waited in. Effectively because its problems are busting at the seams for the last 8 months on the 1st of them is why is the u. N. And why the e. U. Sitting by idly and not supporting a government that it brought into existence and then number 2 if that is going to be the case in the Libyan Government is perhaps more than that the fact that there is a moral outrage and diplomatic at rage and silence about the moral outrage and diplomatic outrage over what is happening in libya so i think in that respect its the most potent of problems but i think that his role here is not only that its you know its going to contest and perhaps never in its lifetime even bring anything meaningful to a deal that may not you know may not transpire with eki but the very fact that it contests it disrupts the kind of confidence that International OilCompanies Need to be able to explore in the area to be able to explore the that the valuable treasures underneath the water and and with that being solved there is no way in hell. That any International Company was going to go in and try to explore for gas so i think in that respect its kind of Mission Accomplished for the turks and that means the move would you say that this isnt a serious proposal this is a cry for help from libya to help this isnt to deal with oils knowledge of carbons its to do with we want to help with the civil war that were in and nobody is coming to her aid. Well its a theater of conflict and then its become almost like a pantomime the very fact that you know the International Communitys silence with what is happening in libya has really forced that and because this deal has so much more to do with the defense accords and the security arrangements that will be built on the back of this deal with libya and between libya and turkey in that respect they need to be able to bring in weapons they need to be able to bring in a partner that will help them and turkey kind of stretched hand and gave libya that lifeline that it was looking for and thats the real basis as well as the why libya has weighed in into this conflict and i think thats the reason why there is so much more outrage but its selective and i think thats the problem that many will find today particularly as libya goes towards a onlies month and the International Community begins to look at ways in which it wants to solve the courses it has to look at the International Partners and and actors that are involved in this and libya has now kind of played as hand sitting back for the last 9 months hoping that the u. N. Will do something hoping that the European Union will do something and i think thats but a much more forceful hand in this respect and it showed a bit more teeth ok i guess said if i could bring you in on this in terms of this deal itself what is it about is it about hydrocarbons or is it about geopolitical strength of herod there from libya is quite keen to get the focus on helping with this conflict that they are in and if you look at the nuts and bolts of this deal it seems to defy geography here lines going diagonally encompassing slates of water that belong to crete so if its turkey is serious about getting this deal done or are there other issues at play. Turkey is very serious and i think what is being perceived by turkey on its Southern Front is an attempt to box the country and so this deal really has i would argue and i guess densher value for the country in fact we have seen elements in the Turkish Military including the chief of the turkish navy currently they have been advocating for such a deal for about 10 years so this is not new and this is not a temporary tactical shift but a natural extension of that intention which has been the case for quite a while and of course there are other considerations domestically we cannot disregard the fact that the president our no one is rallying its support base with such moves we have seen a great deal of support for the day of the mass to greet some 85 percent of the population support turkeys actions in the mediterranean and we also saw in the parliament the deal being passed by the opposition parties with record breaking speed in one business day in fact so this is an indication of the the domestic dimension also involved which is important but of course not the only consideration were seeing a marriage here between the do Strategic Imperatives and dawns personal domestic concerns especially i should add in the context of the defeats he suffered earlier in 2019 and local elections this is perhaps a way of becoming that psychological defeat and and really gaining the upper hand once again domestically but again its i mean i fisa bill if its here i mean the 2nd is doing a deal with. The government of National Unity which doesnt control the area instead its mapping out in this fails at least to create expecting to get this today. So that will depend on the direction which the civil war takes in libya and it is for this reason that turkey has been investing heavily. On the on the genocide and theyve been supporting the government militarily and we think that this will probably intensify turkey will really need to go all in so to speak to make sure that the tripoli government survives and establishes itself as a permanent entity because the alternative really for turkey is getting completely box then losing access to these Natural Resources on a store set and a mediterranean and ultimately that would be a severe strategic defeat for the country and a big embarrassment for the president ok Matthew Bright it sounds like turkey are fairly serious sparrow lane on this according to exit skin. Where does this leave greece. Well its precisely because turkey is so adamant about this that greece is apoplectic and greece is i think worried because the Greek Cypriots are worried because this agreement sets a precedent on cyprus we were talking about cyprus at the beginning so now theres a natural gas deal offshore israel called leviathan the most natural and most economically attractive way for that gas to get to the market if it ever gets to any market would be to turkey i mean but the Greek Cypriots have said well our exclusive Economic Zone is where the pipeline has to cross and we dont like this pipeline so what that is done is that it is it makes it very difficult for any financiers and any banks to support such a pipeline and therefore that damages the investment but it really makes turkey feel as if something unfair is happening because of the history of the cyprus question the cyprus question dates back i mean there though the dispute to the the treaties and the constitution of the republic of cyprus in 1960 that grants a Turkish Cypriots certain rights and rights to participate in any decision of National Importance including hydrocarbons. And those rights were abrogated unilaterally by the Greek Cypriots i dont have to go into the whole history but turkey has felt it was trying to support an agreement to reunify the island to overcome these disputes under u. N. Auspices and that the Greek Cypriots torpedoed that agreement which was on the table 2 years ago under u. N. Auspices so if the Greek Cypriots were using the leverage of their exclusive Economic Zone at that time to block a project turkey favored i think turkeys feeling what were setting up prece