Egypt, Cyprus, Greece says Libyan-Turkish maritime MoUs “has no legal effect”

CAIRO – 28 November 2019: Egypt, Cyprus and Greece announced, Tuesday that the two security cooperation and maritime MoUs signed by Turkey and Libya’s UN-backed government, “has no legal effect”.

According to Egypt’s spokesman for the Foreign Ministry Ahmed Hafez, Minster Sameh Shoukry called both of his Greek and Cypriot counterparts discussing the newly signed MoUs.

The statement added that the three officials agreed that these MoUs “has no legal effect”, as the signing exceeds the powers of Libyan Prime Minister Fayez Sarraj in accordance with the Skhirat Agreement, which was announced in December 2015.

In another statement by Egypt’s Ministry of Foreign affairs it was stated that Skhirat Agreement, agreed upon by Libyans in December 2015, set the powers of the Government of National Accord.

The eighth article of the agreement prohibited the Libyan prime minister from solely clinching international deals without consent of all the cabinet members.

As the current Government of National Accord lacks full representation of all the Libyan regions, the current government is a caretaker cabinet with limited powers, the Foreign Ministry said in its statement.

Such deals are not binding or affecting the interests and the rights of any third parties, it added.

The deals will have no influence on maritime border mechanism in east Mediterranean area, it said.

Egypt urged the international community to shoulder its responsibility towards these negative developments, fearing it would affect Berlin political process that aims at finding a political solution to the Libyan crisis .

Earlier, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Libyan Prime Minister Fayez Sarraj signed an agreement on maritime boundaries in the Mediterranean Sea that could worsen Ankara's disputes over energy exploration with other countries.