Greek FM: Ankara insists on view that isles don't have right to continental shelf; Libyan envoy to be expelled if MoU not presented

Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias on Monday morning said Athens considers that Turkey's latest barrage of provocations and its singular view of international maritime law aim to promote a view that islands do not have their own continental shelf, an exception that it wants to apply to even the bigger Aegean islands and not only tiny Kastellorizo - a Greek isle straddling the southwest corner Asia Minor.

Dendias, a day after paying a lightning visit to Cairo for talks with his Egyptian counterpart specifically on the issue of delineation of exclusive economic zones in the eastern Mediterranean, called the latest Turkish interpretation of international law and treaties "completely baseless."

He also dismissed a Turkish foreign ministry spokesman's reference, released on Sunday evening, to "court decisions", saying dozens of international bodies have issued rulings maintaining the exact opposite of what official Ankara is claiming.

Speaking to a morning news program on the Athens-based Skai broadcaster, he also said the Libyan ambassador accredited to Greece has until Friday to present a memorandum of understanding - signed by Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the prime minister of a shaky interim government mostly limited to the greater Tripoli area - pr otherwise face expulsion from the country.

Additionally, Dendias said two MoUs were apparently signed, one dealing with maritime boundaries and the other with military cooperation. In touching on the second, the Greek foreign ministry questioned whether Ankara is violating a UNSC embargo on the shipment of arms to the strife-plagued North African country.