Libya: Maritime deal with Turkey goes into effect

By Afra Aksoy

TRIPOLI (AA) - Libya’s UN-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) on Sunday announced that pacts with Turkey over maritime jurisdiction areas as well as military and security cooperation went into effect.

According to the Libyan GNA's Justice Ministry, the internationally recognized government's Presidential Council requested relevant departments to bring the pacts into force following their ratification.

The pacts are set to be published in Libya's Official Gazette at the beginning of 2020, the ministry added.

Signed on Nov. 27 and passed by Turkey's parliament this Thursday, the memorandum determining both countries' marine jurisdictions rejects unilateral and illegal activities by other regional countries and international firms and aims to protect the rights of both countries in line with the international law of the sea.

Turkey declared the maritime pact went into effect on Saturday.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the Mediterranean region is estimated to boast millions of barrels of oil and trillions of cubic meters of natural gas, worth hundreds of billions of dollars.

Turkey, for its part, has urged regional countries to take an equality-based approach, but its calls have largely fallen on deaf ears. Turkey continues its drilling and discovery operations in the region under the protection of the country's navy.

In a statement on Saturday, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Turkey does not want any escalation in the region but stands ready to respond to possible hostilities.

Since 2011, when longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi was ousted and killed, Libya has seen the emergence of two rival seats of power: one in eastern Libya, to which military commander Khalifa Haftar is affiliated, and the Government of National Accord, which enjoys UN recognition.

* Writing by Ali Murat Alhas