Libya’s PC urges the consulation before signing a controversial energy deal with Turkey

The Presidential Council (PC) said in a statement commenting on the signings of MoUs between the Government of National Unity and Turkey in gas and energy fields that signing such agreements requires consultations with the PC first, reiterating the importance of cooperation with friendly countries in the best interest of the Libyan people.

The PC said cooperation with foreign states is regulated by the international law and national laws which put the interests of the peoples first and the governments’ singing of agreements aims to boost cooperation, adding that for those agreements to be implemented, the legislative bodies should endorse them.

The House of Representatives (HoR) Speaker Aqila Saleh rejected the MoUs signed by the Government of National Unity with Turkey, saying it was illegal as the government has “expired” and its confidence had been withdrawing by the HoR.

Egypt, Greece and the European Union rejected the signing as being based on the 2019 maritime agreement between Libya and Turkey, which they rendered as a violation of third countries’ maritime rights.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that statements made by Greece and the European Union (EU) on Turkey’s new hydrocarbons agreement with Libya have “no importance or value.”

Turkish Foreign Ministry’s spokesman Tanju Bilgic added in a statement, in the wake of remarks by Athens and the EU raising concerns about the deal with Libya, which was signed on Monday, that objecting to an agreement signed between the two states is not only against the international law but also contradictory to the basic principles of the UN, Anadolu Agency has reported.