Turkey slams Greece over expulsion of Libyan ambassador

The Turkish foreign minister on Friday condemned Greece's decision to expel its Libyan envoy over a maritime pact last month between Tripoli and Ankara, saying Athens had revealed its true colours with the move.

“Had they asked us, we could have given a copy of the maritime deal to Greece. They didn’t. This is outrageous”, Turkish FM Mevlut Cavusoglu said.

Anadolu Agency on Friday reported that Libya's foreign minister said Greece can apply to international justice if it has objections to Tripoli's maritime memorandum with Turkey.

On November 27, Turkey and Libya's Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) signed the bilateral memorandum.

The memorandum asserts Turkey's rights in the Eastern Mediterranean in the face of unilateral drilling by the Greek Cypriot administration, clarifying that the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) also has rights to the resources in the area.

Cavusoglu said Ankara was open to bilateral and multilateral agreements in the eastern Mediterranean region, with the only exception being Greek Cypriot administration, which it does not recognise.

Mevlut Cavusoglu's remarks came amid his visit to Rome, where he is currently attending the fifth edition of the Mediterranean Dialogues (MED) conference.

Turkey's top diplomat also said that Ankara did not make any concessions in the recent NATO leaders' summit and that Turkey's approval of the issuing of NATO's Baltics plan was dependent on the pact's recognition of the YPG/PKK terrorist threat from northern Syria.

In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the US and the European Union -- has been responsible for deaths of 40,000 people. The YPG is the Syrian offshoot of the PKK.