Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikos Dendias’ statements following his meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lebanon, Abdallah Bou Habib (Athens, 11.11.2022)

My dear colleague, dear Abdallah,

It is a great pleasure to welcome you today in Athens. I’d like to start by saying that our contacts with Lebanon are of great importance to us.

Our peoples have been meeting in the wider Mediterranean region since antiquity. Both peoples created significant civilizations – the Phoenician and the Greek civilization – and our relations have been forged over the centuries, as evidenced by the long-standing presence of the Greek Orthodox community in Lebanon. And, of course, I cannot understate the important presence of the Lebanese community in Athens.

I’d like to extend my warmest congratulations on the historic Maritime Delimitation Agreement between Lebanon and Israel; an agreement reached with the mediation of the United States of America, in particular of the Special Envoy for International Energy Affairs, Amos Hochstein. And I’d like to point out that Greece was among the first countries to publicly welcome this agreement as a key factor in stabilizing the situation in the Middle East.

But this agreement also sets a precedent. It demonstrates that the delimitation of maritime zones is possible in all cases, under one basic condition: respect for International Law and the rules of dialogue.

And I believe that this development paves the way for an adjustment of the corresponding agreement between Lebanon and Cyprus. Discussions have started on this.

In any case, we reiterate that the Lebanon-Israel Agreement is an example of peaceful settlement of differences in this area and we urge all countries to follow this example.

We, on our part, have recently concluded two agreements, one with Egypt and one with Italy. I had the great honour to sign both of them. We have also reached an agreement with Albania to refer the issue of maritime delimitation to the International Court of Justice in the Hague and we are currently discussing the terms of a special agreement for submission.

We also look forward to the delimitation of Exclusive Economic Zones between Greece and Libya, once an elected government emerges in Libya. We believe that this will create another triangle of stability – Greece, Egypt, Libya – in the Eastern Mediterranean. And we would then like this example to be extended to neighbouring Turkey. We hope that, after the elections in Turkey, we will be able to negotiate our sole bilateral dispute with Turkey, always on the basis of the International Law of the Sea.

I regret to say, however, that Turkey is currently moving in the opposite direction. It chooses to engage in provocations, seeks to impose positions that have nothing to do with International Law, seeks solutions that disregard geography, that disregard simple common sense. Such as the recent invalid, illegal, null and void “memorandum” on the exploitation of hydrocarbons signed between the Turkish government and the Government of Tripoli (GNU).

We also discussed and will continue to do so over lunch, the challenges facing the international community in Europe, in the Middle East. We will also talk about Sub-Saharan Africa; we talked about the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

At this point, I want to reiterate the Greek position, which is the European position as well. Respect for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of all countries is the “holy gospel” of our foreign policy. And I am sure that Lebanon shares this position.

We addressed the refugee-migration issue. You informed me about the enormous difficulties Lebanon faces with millions of displaced persons from Syria remaining on its territory. We discussed the need to tackle this phenomenon with the assistance of the European Union. Greece will do everything possible so that you are invited to a breakfast meeting of European Union Foreign Ministers and explain the challenges that Lebanon is facing as well as the solutions it proposes on this important issue, in the same clear and understandable manner that you did today.

Concerning Greece’s overall position, I’d like to state that we believe in strengthening European Union-Lebanon relations. We believe that Lebanon possesses all the elements necessary for closer cooperation with the European Union as well as cooperation within other international organizations, such as the United Nations.

We also look forward to a trilateral meeting with the Cypriot Foreign Minister, Ioannis Kasoulides, in the near future.

As regards Greece’s presence in Lebanon, I’d like to express my satisfaction with the program to strengthen Greek language skills and support theological studies at the “St. John of Damascus” Institute of Theology, at the University of Balamand.

Τhis program was revived by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as it essentially represents a revival of Greek language teaching and is a practical proof of our country’s support for the Greek Orthodox part of the Lebanese population.

Now, regarding broader issues, the revival of this program as well as the Memoranda of Understanding we have just signed herald the deepening of our cooperation.  We will always stand by Lebanon. We helped Lebanon after the recent explosion in the port of Beirut. We will continue to show solidarity with the Lebanese people in difficult times. After all, we were the first country to respond after the explosion in the port of Beirut.

We, therefore, look forward to deepening cooperation with Lebanon. We look forward to Lebanon’s stability and development.

And I’d like to thank you warmly and from the bottom of my heart for your presence in Athens today. I’d like to say that your presence here concludes a series of ten bilateral meetings I’ve had over the last six days and, thus, I believe that what you’ve been kind enough to say and brief us on, is an important conclusion of this phase of bilateral contacts on the part of the Hellenic Republic.

Once again, thank you very much.