Egypt and Greece on Sunday said a deal allowing Turkish hydrocarbon exploration in Libya’s Mediterranean waters was “illegal” as Athens said it would oppose it by all “legal means”.
On Monday, Turkey said it had signed a memorandum of understanding on exploration for hydrocarbons in Libya’s seas with the authorities in Tripoli.
“This agreement threatens stability and security in the Mediterranean,” Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said in Cairo, where he met his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry.
The agreement follows an agreement reached with Turkey’s Tripoli three years ago that demarcated the countries’ shared maritime borders.
Greece, Egypt and Cyprus believe the 2019 agreement violates their economic rights in the region, which contains vast natural gas reserves.
“We will use all legal means to defend our rights,” Dandias added.
He said that Tripoli “does not have the necessary sovereignty over the territory”, and therefore the deal is “illegal and unacceptable”.
Shukri alleged that the mandate of the authorities in Tripoli had expired and that the Tripoli government did not have the legitimacy to sign the agreements.
A rival Libyan administration in the east of the war-torn country – which has been trying to take power in Tripoli since March and also argues that the government’s mandate has expired – has rejected the deal.
Monday’s agreement builds on an agreement reached in 2019 between Ankara and the former Tripoli-based administration, when fighting for the capital escalated after eastern-based military chief Khalifa Haftar tried to seize it. was
Soon after, the supply of Turkish drones to Tripoli-based forces was seen as crucial to the victory over Haftar, who at the time was backed by Egypt, Russia and the United Arab Emirates.
The question of rights to Libya’s vast hydrocarbon resources has become more urgent this year as global energy prices have risen.
The European Union has condemned the 2019 maritime border agreement, while France said the recent agreement was “not in line with international law”.
