Parliament to get Turkey-Libya maritime pact 'soon'

ANKARA

The memorandum between Turkey and Libya on maritime boundaries in the eastern Mediterranean Sea will be sent to parliament "very soon," Turkey’s deputy foreign minister said on Wednesday.

"We place importance on sending the memorandum on maritime boundaries in the eastern Mediterranean to parliament very soon," Yavuz Selim Kiran told the members of parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee.

Parliament's ratification of the memorandum is also critical, he said, adding: "It is an important issue that all parties [represented in parliament] back the memorandum."

With the memorandum, Turkey exercised its rights based on international law, which the memorandum is "definitely not against,” Kiran said.

On Nov. 27, at the Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul, Turkey and Libya’s Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) signed the memorandum laying out the two countries’ marine jurisdictions.

Libya, an oil-rich country, has remained beset by turmoil since 2011, when longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi was ousted and killed in a NATO-backed uprising after four decades in power.

The country has since seen the emergence of two rival seats of power: one in eastern Libya, to which military commander Khalifa Haftar is affiliated, and the Government of National Accord, which enjoys UN recognition.

The memorandum asserts Turkey’s rights in the Eastern Mediterranean in the face of unilateral drilling by the Greek Cypriot administration, clarifying that the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) also has rights to the resources in the area.