A member of the Libyan Parliament, Al-Mabrouk Al-Khattabi urged the Turkish government and the Tripoli-based Government of National Unity (GNU) headed by Abdel-Hamid Dbaiba to respect the Libyan judiciary and its rulings.
The MP said in a press statement that “the State will collapse if the rulings of the judiciary are not respected.” He noted that the Turkish government “should not jump on the rulings of the Libyan judiciary in order to achieve its political interests.”
“The fact is that the Libyan Parliament’s position has been clear since the signing of the agreement between the GNU and Turkey. It is keen to implement it, in accordance with Libyan law,” he stressed.
Al-Khattabi also welcomed the “security and economic cooperation with Turkey and other countries surrounding Libya regionally and internationally, within the framework of respecting the Libyan law.”
Last week, the Tripoli Court of Appeal ruled to suspend the implementation of the Libyan-Turkish memorandum of understanding, on oil and gas exploration in the Mediterranean.
This came after five lawyers had appealed to the Court of Appeal against the agreement signed by the GNU with Ankara.
They argued that the Libyan Political Agreement “prevents the Dbaiba government from concluding any international agreements.”
They pointed out that the agreement violates many items of the oil law, most notably the lack of Turkish companies’ experience in this field. As well as “violated the State Audit Bureau law in controlling public funds. As well as the state finance law of 2008, regarding the management of state funds.”
In October, Libya and Turkey signed a series of economic agreements that included potential energy exploration in maritime areas.
The agreements will allow for oil and gas exploration in Libyan waters and come three years after the two countries signed a maritime border deal, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said after signing the MoU in Tripoli.
Greece notified the UN secretary-general that the current Libyan government in Tripoli has no right to proceed with any agreement that binds subsequent, democratically elected governments.
On Thursday, Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mevlut Çavuşoğlu said that the GNU told Turkey “not to take a court ruling that suspended an energy exploration deal seriously,” according to Reuters.
