The head of Libya's Supreme Council of State Khaled al-Mishri condemned Greece's expulsion of the Libyan ambassador, saying it was diplomatic bullying, while Libyan Foreign Minister Mohamed Sayyala said his government reserved the right to conclude any understandings and accused Greece of stalling negotiations on similar agreements.

"Greece has no diplomatic representation in Libya. If there is one, we will expel their ambassador (to respond) in kind," he said. "The decision to expel the ambassador belongs to Greece and we will reserve the right to conclude understandings with those we want."

He pointed out that Greece has stalled in understanding with Libya regarding the demarcation of the maritime borders since 2004, pointing out that the Greek government has the right to resort to international jurisdiction in case of objection to the memorandum of understanding on the maritime areas between the Libyan government of reconciliation and Turkey.

Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias announced earlier in the day that Athens expelled Libyan Ambassador of National Accord Mohamed Younis exile for not providing clarifications on the memorandum of understanding on the definition of maritime areas between Tripoli and Ankara, noting that he had given 72 hours to leave Greece.

Dindias stressed that the naval memorandum of understanding between Turkey and the Libyan government of reconciliation "is a flagrant violation of international law," but made clear that the expulsion of the Libyan ambassador "does not mean absolutely diplomatic relations between the two countries."

Turkish condemnation
For his part, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Friday condemned Greece's decision to expel the Libyan ambassador on the background of a memorandum of understanding between Ankara and Tripoli to determine the areas of maritime influence.

This came in statements made to reporters on the sidelines of his participation in the activities of the fifth edition of the Mediterranean Dialogue Forum 2019, which began in the Italian capital of Rome on Thursday.

"We condemn the Greek decision to grant the Libyan ambassador time to leave the country, and this action shows the true face of Athens," said Gavishoglu.

"We cannot accept the expulsion of Greece by the Libyan ambassador, and Tripoli will not yield to this threat," he said. "They have really done a terrible mistake and have nothing to do with diplomatic decency."

The Turkish minister said that they "favored Libya between expelling its ambassador or sending the document to them immediately. Libya may be experiencing problems at home and abroad, but this great nation does not bow to such a threat, if they requested the terms of the memorandum properly, Turkey and Libya would have provided them."

The Libyan government of national reconciliation and the Turkish government signed on November 27 in Istanbul, in the presence of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President of the Presidential Council Fayez al-Sarraj, the first stipulations on the definition of areas of maritime influence between the parties, while the second to strengthen security cooperation between them .

The maritime agreement between the two sides drew strong criticism from Greece, Egypt and Cyprus, which issued a joint statement in which it considered that the signing of this Memorandum of Understanding has no legal effect.