TRIPOLI, Nov 17 — Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias arrived in the Libyan capital today but cancelled his visit without leaving his plane, the latest spat in a diplomatic row involving Greece’s arch-rival Turkey.

Dendias’s Libyan counterpart Najla al-Mangoush had been waiting on the tarmac “in keeping with diplomatic norms”, according to a statement from her ministry.

But “in a surprising and insulting move, the Greek minister refused to disembark from his plane and left without any clarifications,” it said.

Dendias’s visit to the divided country comes after Libya’s Tripoli-based government signed deal a with Ankara over exploration for undersea oil and gas in the Mediterranean.

Built on a 2019 border deal between Tripoli and Ankara, the agreement angered Greece, Egypt and Cyprus which argue that neither side has a right to drill in those areas.

A rival Libyan administration also condemned the deal, as it says the Tripoli-based government of Abdulhamid Dbeibah no longer has a mandate to rule or sign international agreements.

While in Tripoli, Dendias had been set to meet the head of Libya’s Presidential Council, Mohamed el-Manfi, without meeting members of the executive, according to the Greek foreign ministry.

But their meeting was “cancelled as the Libyan foreign ministry reneged on an agreement” that he would not meet Mangoush, according to a statement by the Greek foreign ministry.

It said the remainder of his trip, in the eastern city of Benghazi, would continue as planned.

Mangoush’s ministry said it would take “appropriate diplomatic measures” in response.

It said Dendias had been invited in response to a request from Athens, “despite (him) taking offensive positions... and making unbalanced statements about Libya’s sovereignty and its right to establish relations that meet the hopes of its people”.

After the signing of the hydrocarbons deal in October, Dendias had said it “threatens stability and security” in the region, speaking from Cairo which also opposes Dbeibah.

Libya has been plagued by violence since the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi’s regime in 2011.

Dbeibah was appointed as part of a United Nations-guided peace process following the last major battle in Libya in 2020, but the eastern-based parliament and military strongman Khalifa Haftar say his mandate has expired, further complicating the country’s foreign relations. — AFP