On Monday, the Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, said that Ankara and Cairo agreed to continue joint coordination and consultations for the stability of Libya.
This comes in press remarks following his landmark visit over the weekend to Cairo where he met with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry to discuss bilateral relations as well as regional and international issues on Saturday.
“We discussed Libya in a little more detail. We agree we are not rivals in Libya and that we should work together for the stability of Libya. We will intensify our consultations on this issue as well,” he noted.
The Turkish diplomat explained that his country’s energy deal with Libya over maritime authority areas was not against Egypt’s interests.
He said Egypt was initially disturbed by Turkey’s presence in the region, but they affirmed that their presence did not pose a threat to Egypt.
On ties with Libya, Çavuşoğlu said Turkey was in touch with both sides of the political divide in Libya.
“We see Libya as a whole but it does not alter the fact that we only recognize the legitimate government in Libya. The most legitimate [foreign] presence in Libya is Turkey’s military presence,” he added.
In October 2022, 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 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Tripoli.
As a result, Egypt denounced the MoU on the energy between Turkey and Libya’s Government of National Unity (GNU), headed by Abdelhamid Dbaiba.
The Spokesperson for the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ahmed Hafez, said in press statements that the “outgoing government in Libya does not have the authority to conclude any international agreements or memoranda of understanding.”
