Local and international reactions to the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Turkey and Libya on Thursday varied, as the Egyptian Foreign Ministry were quick to denounce what it called the illegal and unlawful agreement between the reconciliation GNA and the Turkish government.
The Egyptian position rejecting this agreement came in the words of the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, which said that the Turkish-Libyan agreement on two memorandums of understanding in the security and maritime fields is “illegal and non-binding”.
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in its statement on Thursday that the agreement can not be recognized because it contradicts Article 8 of the Skhirat political agreement on Libya.
The statement added that the Council of Presidential council of the GNA has an imbalance in the representation of the Libyan areas, and is short of members , which limits the role of Sarraj to the management of the work of the Council only, and that all agreements with any country is a violation of the Skhirat accord.
Fear of the agreement prompted Egypt to change its rhetoric:
The notable thing in this issue is the Egyptian change of rhetoric regarding key issues in the Libyan crisis because of the signing of this memorandum, Foreign Ministry said on September 25 this year that Turkey supports terrorist and extremist groups and armed militias in Libya by providing all political and logistical support of weapons and equipment.
In its latest statement, however, it did not invoke terrorism to reject the memorandum of understanding, but called on the international community to confront what it described as a “negative approach” by Turkey, which would affect efforts to reach a comprehensive agreement in Berlin, according to the statement of the Egyptian Foreign Ministry.
The protest for breaching Skhirat agreement:
The contradiction of the Egyptian rhetoric became clear when was referred to Skhirat agreement, which was criticized by the Egyptian Assistant Foreign Minister “for neighboring countries”, Mohamed Badr al-Din Zayed, who spoke in an article published in Al-Ahram newspaper in November 2018 that the Skhirat agreement increased the confusion of the situation in Libya, which is a clear indication. From an Egyptian diplomat dissatisfied with the outcome of the Skhirat agreement, which made Hifter outside legitimacy.
Silence over Hifter attacks which they supported:
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry’s recent statement on the memorandum of understanding between Turkey and Libya did not address Hifter’s combat operations on the outskirts of Tripoli and the continuation of the aggression, which raises the question after the Egyptian Foreign Ministry announced that the political solution had stalled and that it “supported the national army” led by Hifter. Did Egypt’s fear of this agreement and its enhancement of the Turkish role in supporting the GNA and its security and logistical abilities in repelling the aggression on Tripoli since last April in light of the continued failure of Hifter forces to achieve any real gains from these attacks lead to change of rhetoric and call for not breaching the Skhirat Agreement and disturbing Berlin with negative steps in reference to Turkey?.
