Oct 21 (Reuters) - Egypt’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday rejected the maritime boundaries deal that Libya’s eastern parliament ratified with Turkey, saying in a statement that the ratification will have no legal impact on Cairo.
The deal approved on Tuesday is part of a years-old dispute over competing claims to sea borders and energy exploration rights in the eastern Mediterranean.
• “Egypt reaffirms that this memorandum is null and void … possesses no legal effect,” Egypt’s Foreign Ministry said
• Israel said on Wednesday it “strongly” condemned the Libyan eastern parliament’s approval, which also drew swift criticism from Greece
• “Regretfully, once again we see Turkey working to destabilise the east Mediterranean region,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry said in a statement
• Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan rejected the criticism, saying the agreement was legitimate and that the Libyan parliament’s ratification was simply a formality as the deal was already in effect for Ankara.
• “There are countries reacting to this. We know why they are reacting. Some are doing so because they need to, some really do have strategic problems with this issue. However, this is an entirely legitimate deal, both from a legal and a statutory perspective. There is no need to argue this,” Fidan told state media in Brussels
• A statement by the EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas issued later said: “The EU has a strategic interest in a stable and secure environment in the Eastern Mediterranean and urges all countries to respect the sovereign rights of all Member States, in accordance with EU and international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea”
• The Libya-Turkey maritime deal was originally agreed in 2019 by Libya’s internationally recognised government in Tripoli in the west, but the rival eastern administration had withheld its approval for years
• Greece, Egypt and Cyprus have long been opposed to a maritime-boundaries deal between Libya and Turkey, as they see it as an infringement on their own maritime claims.
• The Greek Ambassador to the United Nations, Aglaia Balta, briefed the UN Security Council about the issue on Wednesday, arguing it would impact security and stability in the eastern Mediterranean, said Greek diplomatic sources.
(Reporting by Nayera Abdallah and Menna Alaa ElDin; Additional reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu in Ankara, Sudip Kar-Gupta in Brussels and Renee Maltezou in Athens; Editing by Andrew Heavens, Xevi Fontdegloria, Toby Chopra)
