Erdogan: We protect our interests in the Eastern Mediterranean, whatever the cost

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that his country aims to protect its rights and interests in the Eastern Mediterranean, stressing the need to respect the “common will” between Turkey and Libya, in reference to the maritime border agreement between the two countries. The Turkish President said in statements reported by the official Anatolia News Agency: “Türkiye looks forward to ending the divisions in Libya and other Islamic countries.”

He added that his country "does not seek to undermine anyone in the Eastern Mediterranean, but rather aims only to protect its rights and interests in its maritime jurisdiction." Erdogan called for "respect for the common will between Türkiye and Libya, and warns against attempts to exclude Türkiye from the Eastern Mediterranean region."

The Turkish President also indicated that his country will not "hesitate in taking the right steps for the benefit of the country and the nation, whatever the cost," stressing that "national interests are what guide its internal and foreign policies." On Saturday, the Libyan Parliament, held in the east of the country, ratified a memorandum of understanding regarding the maritime borders with Turkey, after years of not ratifying it when Aguila Saleh was Speaker of Parliament, before the election of Al-Salihin Abdul Nabi, the new Speaker of the Council on the 7th of this month.

In 2019, the former Government of National Accord in Tripoli signed a memorandum of understanding with Türkiye, which sparked official protests from Egypt and Greece and reached the corridors of the United Nations via protest notes. The Libyan House of Representatives refused to adopt the memorandum over the years when Aguila Saleh was at the head of the legislative authority, before it was approved in today’s session.

Egypt, Greece and Israel, along with the European Union, rejected the agreement. In a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Egypt considered it “invalid” and “without any legal effect.”