Faced with the “growing demand” for gas in the context of the war in Ukraine, “we intend to pursue oil exploration in our territorial waters with the help of neighboring countries,” said the head of the Libyan government recently.
“The Turkish-Libyan memorandum is based on bilateral agreements concluded before 2011. (…) It is our right to sign any agreement (…) of cooperation with other countries,” Dbeibah said Wednesday evening in Tripoli, during a meeting with women’s organizations.
The memorandum, signed Monday during the visit to Tripoli of a high-level Turkish delegation, came three years after the two sides signed a controversial maritime delimitation agreement in 2019.
On the strength of this agreement, Turkey has asserted rights over large areas in the eastern Mediterranean, much to the displeasure of Greece and the EU. Reacting to the memorandum signed on Monday, the head of Greek diplomacy Nikos Dendias said that the government in Tripoli lacked “legitimacy” to seal such an agreement.
“We don’t care about the positions of the states that oppose it. What matters to us is to answer the questions of the Libyans and dispel their doubts,” said Mr. Dbeibah. Cyprus, Egypt and Greece believe that the 2019 Turkish-Libyan maritime delimitation agreement violates their economic rights in this sector, where the discovery in recent years of vast gas deposits has whetted the appetite of countries in the region.
Since March, two governments supported by two rival camps in the west and east of the country have been fighting for power in Libya, which fell into chaos after the uprising that brought down the regime of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. The eastern camp, close to Egypt, rejected the agreement signed Monday.
