Egypt renews its rejection of the maritime border demarcation agreement between Türkiye and Fayez al-Sarraj

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Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdel Aty renewed his country's categorical rejection of the memorandum of understanding regarding defining areas of maritime jurisdiction in the Mediterranean, signed in 2019 between Turkey and the former Libyan Government of National Accord headed by Fayez al-Sarraj, considering it "absolutely invalid" and does not have any legal implications for Cairo.

This came during a bilateral meeting between Abdel Ati and his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan, today, Friday, in Istanbul, on the sidelines of the Quartet Mechanism meetings with European countries.

The Egyptian Minister stressed the importance of adhering to the principles of the international law of the sea and the provisions of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea when delimiting exclusive economic zones and the continental shelf, in a way that achieves justice and fairness between countries.

The meeting also discussed the latest developments in the situation in Libya, where Abdel-Ati affirmed Egypt’s firm position in support of Libya’s unity, sovereignty, territorial integrity and stability, in addition to supporting Libyan state institutions in a way that preserves the interests of the Libyan people and meets their aspirations.

For his part, the Turkish Minister expressed his understanding of the Egyptian concerns regarding the Libyan developments, stressing the importance of continuing consultation, coordination and joint work to support security and stability efforts in the country.

In an interview with Turkish television, Abdel-Ati stressed that the memorandum of understanding signed in 2019 is “absolutely invalid” and has no legal effect, stressing that its ratification by the Libyan House of Representatives does not change its legal status with respect to Egypt and does not impose any obligations or legal effects on it.

This came two days after the Egyptian Foreign Ministry confirmed in a statement that the memorandum represents a clear violation of Egypt’s sovereign rights in the exclusive economic zone and the continental shelf.

Cairo also renewed its rejection of the memorandum and any measures or actions based on it that conflict with the declared Egyptian maritime borders, stressing that it reserves its right to protect its sovereign rights in accordance with international law and to confront any attempt to undermine them.

The crisis dates back to November 2019, when Turkey and the former Libyan Government of National Accord signed a memorandum of understanding to demarcate the maritime borders and continental shelf in the eastern Mediterranean, with the aim of paving the way for oil and gas exploration operations.

However, the memorandum raised widespread objections from Egypt, Greece, and Cyprus, which were considered to infringe on their sovereign rights and ignore the geographical reality of the region, including the coasts and main islands in the eastern Mediterranean.