Turkey, Libya express commitment to maritime accord for east Med

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on April 12 said Turkey and Libya's new unity government were committed to the maritime demarcation agreement in the eastern Mediterranean.

"The memorandum of understanding [MOU] we signed with Libya on the delimitation of maritime jurisdiction areas secures both countries' national interests and future," Erdoğan said, speaking at a joint press conference with Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Mohammed Dbeibah of Libya's new unity government.

"My noble brother Mr. Dbeibah has repeatedly announced that this MOU is in accordance with the interests of Libya; anything beyond that is empty words in our view. Today, we have reaffirmed our determination in this regard," he added.

The president emphasized that the support Turkey provided to Libya as per the MOU on security and cooperation prevented the fall of Tripoli and thwarted new massacres while also enabling a ceasefire.

"In Libya, we must now focus on healing the wounds, on reconstruction, development and on our Libyan brothers and sisters' prosperity. With its sound institutional structure and strong private sector, Turkey will provide every kind of support for the reconstruction of Libya's infrastructure and superstructure," he stated.

Erdoğan noted that 150,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines would be delivered from Turkey to Libya on April 13.

Dbeibah for his part stressed that the MOU between Turkey and Libya on the delimitation of maritime jurisdiction areas was to the benefit of both countries.

"With regard to the agreements signed between the two countries, especially the maritime ones, we confirm the validity of the frameworks on which these agreements were built and that they achieve the interests of both countries at the same time," he...