In a pointed Gerapetritis Libya criticism, news site Lawandorder.gr has accused Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis of letting eastern Libya drift towards Turkey before a key maritime vote.
Its column appeared on Thursday 22 October under a pen name. It followed the decision by Libya’s eastern-based House of Representatives on 20 October to approve the 2019 Turkish–Libyan memorandum.
According to the outlet, the vote overturned the idea that eastern Libya could act as a barrier to Ankara. It called the result “a serious blow” to Greek strategy and blamed the Foreign Ministry and Gerapetritis personally.
In its view, a country’s foreign policy rests on its ability “to build alliances, influence developments and prevent faits accomplis”. Legal assurances alone do not meet that test, it wrote.
Read more: Greece Challenges Turkish-Libyan Memorandum at UN
Haftar and the Gerapetritis Libya criticism
At the heart of the Gerapetritis Libya criticism is the eastern camp of Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar. Greece had invested politically in contacts with eastern Libya, the outlet noted.
Previously, as foreign minister until 2023, Nikos Dendias built ties with Haftar and kept channels open, it added.
Now the parliament linked to the Haftar camp has backed the deal Athens rejects. His son, Saddam Haftar, also welcomed the decisions as a step beyond old differences, Lawandorder.gr wrote.
For the outlet, Ankara has widened its influence where it once met strong resistance. “What did Athens do to keep its influence in eastern Libya active?” it asked.
However, the Gerapetritis Libya criticism cannot be brushed aside by citing international law, it argued. Diplomacy “requires constant presence, a plan and results”, it wrote.
Samaras and the minister’s reply
The Gerapetritis Libya criticism echoes former prime minister Antonis Samaras, who attacked Gerapetritis and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on 20 October. Events in Libya “irreparably expose” the minister, “who assured us of the exact opposite”, Samaras said.
He also said Mitsotakis agreed with the minister on everything “instead of having already dismissed him”.
In a radio interview the next day, Gerapetritis hit back. Samaras was driven by “a very deep intolerance” and “political hostility”, he said.
“We have no national defeat,” the minister added. Preventing the ratification “was not in Greece’s hands”, he said.
Officially, Athens holds that the memorandum is “illegal, null and void” and has no legal effect. Gerapetritis has also said Greece has the means to block its use in practice.
Still, Lawandorder.gr said the legal argument and the political reality on the ground differ. In its view, the clash with Samaras also shifted the debate from substance to a personal feud.
Instead, the outlet called for a wider strategy in Greek foreign policy. That would mean contacts with all Libyan sides, coordination with Egypt and Cyprus, and pressure through the European Union.
Finally, the Gerapetritis Libya criticism closes on a warning. “In foreign policy, what counts is not only what you say you do not recognise, but what you allow others to achieve,” it said.
Source: Lawandorder.gr
