“Misunderstandings” about maritime areas of responsibility arose during a joint press conference Mevlut Cavusoglu With Libya his colleague Nejla Manguz after signing the “hydrocarbon agreement”.

Starting, the Turkish Foreign Minister said: “We have signed two agreements. For hydrocarbons, protocol directions and a memorandum of cooperation. Our partners continue to consult on this matter. Today we will return with a gas agreement. But there are many details and outlines, and we continue our consultations in a constructive manner.”

The Turkish Foreign Minister also stressed that “the memorandum on maritime areas of responsibility that we signed protects our common interests. This is an agreement that protects the rights of Libya and the Libyan people, as well as the Turkish people and Turkey.”

For her part, Libyan Foreign Minister Nejla Manguz noted that “the memorandum of understanding on gas is a technical memorandum, and we have not yet considered its terms. It will be signed by the ministers of energy. We don’t have details. But this will be in the interests of the two peoples, and in the current phase of the global energy crisis, in the interests of all.

Regarding the definition of areas of maritime jurisdiction, he said that the relevant memorandum of understanding has not yet been activated, as verification procedures are pending from the UN. “When the registration process is completed, he will be able to use it in the interests of both countries,” he said, adding that “this is a technical issue and negotiations are ongoing.”

Prime Minister Dibeybeile, we have taken steps towards a political solution and our relationship. Mutabakat Muhtıralarını imzaladık in the areas of Hidrokarbonlar ve Protokol.

Met with PM @Dabaybahamid. We discussed steps for a political solution and our relations. 2 memoranda of understanding signed on hydrocarbons and protocol.🇹🇷🇱🇾 pic.twitter.com/HWQu0cdskp

— Mevlut Cavusoglu (@MevlutCavusoglu) October 3, 2022

After that, the Turkish Foreign Minister took the floor, who emphasized that “the hydrocarbon agreement that we have just signed is aimed at the cooperation of Turkish and Libyan companies with a win-win mentality for exploration, drilling, both onshore and offshore.” and in areas of maritime jurisdiction”.

He also noted that “the natural gas agreement is currently under negotiation between the two ministries of energy” and stated that its content will be announced “after signing, when it is completed.” “This will be an agreement aimed at cooperation between the two countries in the gas sector,” he said.

Referring to the issue of maritime jurisdiction, which was previously referred to by the Libyan Foreign Ministry, Mevlut Cavusoglu stressed that there had been a “misunderstanding” and added: “This is an agreement signed between two sovereign countries. And this is a deal. In addition, both Turkey and Libya have informed the UN that we have signed such an agreement. In other words, the UN is not the mechanism for the ratification of this agreement.”

He went on to emphasize that his country has already registered its continental shelf and maritime areas of responsibility with the UN, and it remains for Libya to define its own continental shelf and maritime areas of responsibility and register them with the UN.

The Libyan Ministry of Foreign Affairs immediately took the floor, which emphasized: “Perhaps there was a misunderstanding, I meant registration, not ratification. Registration from Libya.

Wanting to send a signal to all parties, Cavusoglu stated that “third countries have no right to interfere in an agreement signed by two sovereign states.” “It doesn’t matter what they think. We’re just looking to see if the agreements we signed will benefit our people,” he added.

In conclusion, the Turkish Foreign Minister stated that his country would be satisfied with the “development of Libya’s relations with third countries”, warned “these countries”, but “not to forget that Libya is an independent state”, and called on them to “stop interfering in its internal affairs in a negative way.”