Turkey announced that its MoU with Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA) in maritime boundaries and cooperation is now in effect.
Since the signing of the MoU on November 27 between Head of Presidential Council Fayez Al-Sarraj and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, tensions have gone higher regionally and internationally.
The first article of the MoU tackled the demarcation of the neritic zone and the economic zone between Libya and Turkey in the Mediterranean.
The fourth article says in its first item that any dispute about the implementation of the MoU shall be resolved through diplomatic channels as per Article (33) UN charter.
The second item of the fourth article says if there are natural resources in the economic zone in one of the two sides of the MoU signatories that stretches to the other side’s zone, the two sides benefit from it.
The last item of the fourth article says of one of the countries of the MoU wanted to negotiate with a country for demarcation of maritime boundaries, it needs to inform the second country of the MoU and negotiate with it first.
This controversial agreement brought to light the tensions over the eastern Mediterranean region’s oil exploration activities as Cyprus called on the International Criminal Court to protect its rights in the maritime resources that are disputed with Turkey.
The President of Cyprus said his country is committed to protecting its sovereignty in all legal ways, while Turkish Foreign Minister, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, said the MoU between Turkey and Libya aims to secure Ankara’s rights as per the law.
Çavuşoğlu told reporters that his country couldn’t strike such deals with other countries, but it will do in the future.
