Greece uneasy over not being part of Berlin conference

By Fatih Hafiz Mehmet

ANKARA (AA) - Greek foreign minister has expressed the country's uneasiness over not being allowed to be part of the Berlin conference on Libya to be hosted on Jan. 19, according to the Greek local media.

Speaking in a joint press conference in Rabat with his Moroccan counterpart Nasser Bourita on Wednesday, Nikos Dendias also said they were surprised that Morocco was not invited to the conference, star.gr reported.

"We cannot understand why Greece is not part of this process and even more than that, we cannot understand why Morocco is not invited to Berlin, after all of that difficult work which it has done," he said.

Main opposition party Radical Coalition of the Left (Syriza) blamed the Greek government over Berlin not allowing Greece to be part of the conference and said that this is a matter of Greek sovereignty rights, referring to the recent Turkey-Libya deal on maritime borders.

On Nov. 27, Ankara and Libya's UN-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) signed an agreement on maritime boundaries of the two countries in the Eastern Mediterranean, which was strongly opposed by Greece.

Greek government had expressed its desire to participate in the conference, but was not included.

Germany seeks to bring countries concerned with the Libyan issue at the Berlin conference on Jan. 19 in an attempt to reach a political solution to the conflict.

The German government had announced that head of GNA Fayez al-Sarraj, Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar as well as Turkey, Russia, China, France, Italy, the U.S., the U.K., United Arab Emirates, Republic of Congo, UN, EU, African Union, Arab League, Algeria, and Egypt were invited to the conference.

According to the UN, more than 1,000 people have been killed and over 5,000 others injured since Haftar launched his campaign in April 2019.

On Jan. 12, the GNA and Haftar accepted a cease-fire called by Turkey and Russia to end hostilities in Tripoli, but Haftar left Moscow on Tuesday without signing the proposed deal.

Since the ouster of late leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, two seats of power have emerged in Libya: one in eastern Libya supported mainly by Egypt and the United Arab Emirates and the other in Tripoli, which enjoys the UN and international recognition.