Egypt practically canceled the Turkish-Libyan memorandum after it proceeded with a Presidential Decree it issued on Tuesday and was signed by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi with which it unilaterally determines the maritime borders with Libya.
With Presidential Decree No. 595/2022, Egypt demarcates the maritime border to the west with Libya based on the drawing of a straight line that, in reality, cuts the Turkish-Libyan memorandum in half.
With this move, Egypt practically ignores every point Turkey included in the texts signed with the government of Tripoli, whether it is the Turkish-Libyan memorandum of 2019 or the addendum on hydrocarbons signed last October.
As Kathimerini reports, the first impressions based on existing coordinates show that the Egyptians moved once again along the lines of the Athens-Cairo agreement in 2020.
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Egyptian media recall that in October, Egypt and Greece strongly condemned the hydrocarbons agreement between Turkey and the Tripoli government.
“Egypt and Greece have strengthened their ties in recent years, working closely together to develop energy resources in the eastern Mediterranean, to share information on terrorism and to conduct frequent joint military exercises,” the reports added.
The Presidential Decree comes after the partial demarcation of an Exclusive Economic Zone between Athens and Cairo, as well as the signing of the new intergovernmental agreement (Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in the Aeronautical and Maritime Search and Rescue Sectors), actions which, in practice, also nullify the illegal Turkish-Libyan memorandum.
