TRIPOLI — Turkey’s foreign minister signed a deal in
Libya’s
capital Monday allowing for oil and gas exploration in Libya’s Mediterranean
waters, three years after a maritime border deal that angered European nations.
اضافة اعلان
“We’ve signed a memorandum of understanding on
exploration for hydrocarbons in Libya’s territorial waters and on Libyan soil,
by mixed Turkish-Libyan companies,” Mevlut Cavusoglu said at a press conference
in Tripoli.
The deal follows an agreement Turkey signed with
authorities in Tripoli in 2019, which demarcated the countries’ shared maritime
borders but sparked anger in Greece and
Cyprus.
Cavusoglu however stressed on Monday that the new
accord was between “two sovereign countries — it’s win-win for both, and other
countries have no right to interfere”.
Najla Al-Mangoush, foreign minister in Libya’s
Government of National Unity, said the new deal was “important”, especially in
light of “the Ukrainian crisis and its repercussions” for energy markets.
The deal was rejected by a rival administration in
the war-torn country’s east.
Turkey had signed a controversial security agreement
in November 2019 with Libya’s UN-recognized government at the time, laying
claim to extensive, potentially gas-rich areas of the Mediterranean.
The deal came at the height of a year-long battle
between rival governments vying for control of Libya’s capital.
The arrival of Turkish drones shortly afterwards was
seen as crucial in the victory of Tripoli-based forces against those of eastern
military chief Khalifa Haftar, backed at the time by Egypt, Russia, and the
UAE.
‘Unacceptable’
Turkey continues to play a
major role in Libya’s west, where rival governments are again struggling for control
two years after the end of the last major conflict.
Since March, a government appointed by Libya’s
eastern-based parliament has been attempting to take office in Tripoli, but has
so far failed.
Both the speaker of parliament and the head of the
rival administration rejected Monday’s accord.
Speaker
Aguila Saleh, who has long argued that the
Tripoli-based government’s mandate has expired, called the deal “illegal and
unacceptable”, while the rival government of former interior minister Fathi
Bashagha threatened to use the courts to annul it.
Cavusoglu was accompanied in Tripoli by a high-level
delegation also including Turkey’s energy, defense, and trade ministers.
Libya has been
mired in violence for more than a decade since the 2011 toppling of dictator
Muammar Gadhafi in a NATO-backed uprising.
Dozens of armed groups have been struggling for
influence, backed by multiple foreign powers.
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