East Libya Parliament Chair Calls Turkey-Tripoli Maritime Border Agreement Illegal

ATHENS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 10th December, 2019) The chairman of the east Libyan parliament, Aguila Saleh Issa, on Monday called illegal the recent memorandum on maritime boundaries between Turkey and the Libyan Government of National Accord, residing in the country's capital of Tripoli.

On November 28, Ankara and Tripoli signed a memorandum on maritime boundaries in the Mediterranean Sea, prompting an outcry from Greece, Cyprus, and Egypt.

"The signing of this agreement without ratification by the Libyan House of Representatives aims to cede the sovereignty of the Libyan State and its legitimate rights to the Republic of Turkey to enable it to invest in this area, which is null and void by all standards," Saleh said as quoted in a letter, published by Greek Kathimerini newspaper.

The Libyan lawmaker also slammed the document as geographically illiterate regarding the modern maritime borders.

"Libya and Turkey do not have common maritime boundaries. There are several countries including Greece and Cyprus, in addition to the overlap of maritime borders with other countries, including the Arab Republic of Egypt, Syria and Lebanon, as stipulated in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea," he said.

Saleh urged the United Nations not to acknowledge the legality of the document as the Libyan parliament does not recognize it.

After the ouster and assassination of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, the country was plunged into a brutal civil war. Today, Libya is divided between two centers of power � an elected parliament in the country's east, supported by the Libyan National Army, led by Khalifa Haftar, and a UN-back government in the west.