WASHINGTON — A US State Department spokesperson on Friday reiterated that the Turkey-Libya memorandum of understanding is "provocative and unhelpful", in reply to a question by Open TV following a meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the head of Libya's internationally recognised government, Fayez al-Sarraj.

The spokesperson referred to previous statements by U.S. government officials on this matter, saying that these continued to apply, which note that international law and the Convention on the Law of the Sea generally recognise that islands have both an EEZ and a continental shelf, just as any other land territory.

The same officials also said that the Turkey-Libya MoU “cannot as a legal matter affect the rights or obligations of third states” such as Greece.