Libyan government

Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias reportedly held a telephone conversation with his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu, on Tuesday, a day before he is due to attend a Christmas service at the Cathedral of Aghios Georgios in Istanbul and meet with Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomaios.

Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias is visiting Libya, where he is expected to meet with Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, leader of the Libyan National Army fighting the UN-recognized Libyan government, Arab media report.

Dendias left earlier Sunday from the Elefsina military airport, headed to Benghazi.

Turkey's parliament approved a security and military deal with Libya's UN-supported government Saturday  on the heels of a controversial maritime agreement earlier this month that has drawn international ire.

The deal allows Turkey to provide military training and equipment at the request of the Libyan government that controls the capital, Tripoli, and some of the country's west.

Berlin stands in solidarity with Athens and Nicosia, German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer was reported as saying on Thursday during a visit to Cyprus, where she also called on Ankara to respect international law.

Turkey is only "threatening itself" with its tactics in the Eastern Mediterranean, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said on Wednesday.

The main opposition party's leader, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, has urged the Turkish government to take lessons from the Syrian conflict and not to deploy troops to Libya as Ankara and Tripoli have agreed on a comprehensive security and defense deal.

The number of illegal migrants in Libya from neighboring African and Arab countries has reached 700,000, the head of the anti-illegal migration department of the Libyan government, reported on Tuesday.

The Libyan Embassy in Bulgaria has submitted a protest note to the Bulgarian authorities on the instructions of the Libyan Foreign Ministry regarding the detention of the Libyan oil tanker "Badr" by the Bulgarian authorities, reports Libya Observer. 

Turkey's defense minister Hulusi Akar has presented maps to the Libyan government in a bid to indicate that Greece is trying to encroach upon Libya's continental shelf, according to reports in Turkey's Yeni Safak newspaper.

In its reports, the newspaper accuses Greece of "stealing Libya's EEZ," referring to the country's exclusive economic zone.

Some €10 billion of Libyan government funds, frozen as part of sanctions against the late Muammar Gaddafi's inner circle, has mysteriously disappeared from a Belgian bank somewhere between 2013 and 2017, according to local media.