(3 minutes read)
Egypt’s and Greece’s foreign ministers met recently in Cairo in the aftermath of the controversial maritime and gas deals that Turkey signed with a Libyan leader. The animosity of Egypt and Greece towards Turkey is well known
Egypt’s and Greece’s foreign ministers met recently in Cairo in the aftermath of the controversial maritime and gas deals that Turkey signed with a Libyan leader. The animosity of Egypt and Greece towards Turkey is well known. The controversial MOU has brought two countries together against Turkey, which is wanting to undertake oil exploration in the territorial waters.
Cairo and Athens’s bilateral relations are on the upswing these days. They have entered into cooperation for developing energy resources, combating terrorism, and signing new maritime border agreements.
At a joint news conference, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said talks with his Egyptian counterpart, Sameh Shukry, focused on the memorandums of understanding between Turkey and Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, the leader of one of the two competing governments in divided Libya, adding that such agreements were a threat to regional stability.
The deals, signed last week in the Libyan capital of Tripoli, include the joint exploration of hydrocarbon reserves in Libya’s offshore waters and national territory, which the Greeks slammed as illegal since it infringed on Greek waters.
The Egyptian foreign minister maintained that Dbeibah’s government has no authority to conclude such deals, given that its mandate expired following Libya’s failure to hold nationwide elections in December last year. He called for the U.N. to take a clear position on the legitimacy of Dbeibah’s government, saying the international body should not keep silent. Turkey’s agreements with Dbeibah’s government came three years after another controversial agreement between Ankara and a former Tripoli government.
Read Also:
https://trendsnafrica.com/libyan-rival-governments-deal-with-turkey-increases-tension/
That 2019 deal granted Turkey access to a contested economic zone in the gas-rich eastern Mediterranean Sea, fuelling Turkey’s pre-existing tensions with Greece, Cyprus, and Egypt over drilling rights in the region.
