The Foreign Ministers of Greece, Greek Cyprus, France and Egypt, who met in Cairo on Wednesday, condemned the maritime agreement signed between Turkey and Libya claiming it undermines regional stability.

"The Turkey-Libya Memorandum of Understanding purporting to delimit maritime jurisdictions in the Mediterranean Sea infringes upon the sovereign rights of third States, does not comply with the Law of the Sea and cannot produce any legal consequences," the joint communique said.

On 28 November, President Erdoğan signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Istanbul with the Prime Minister of the Government of National Accord of Libya, Feyyad al-Sarraj, to demarcate maritime zones in the Eastern Mediterranean on an area between Turkey and Libya, as part of Turkey's notion of Blue Homeland, in addition to a deal on security and military cooperation.

This agreement drew condemnation by both Greece and the international community, including the European union, USA, Russia, Egypt, France, Israel, Arap League and the Libyan opposition, led by the Libyan House of Representative and Khalifa Hafter, the head of the so-called Libyan National Army, as a violation of the International Law of the Sea and the Skhirat Agreement.

On 2 January 2020, Turkey's parliament approved a bill to deploy troops into Libya to back the UN-recognized government in the capital, after forces loyal to Haftar, a rival administration, launched an offensive. The legislation passed with a 325-184 vote; however, the details of the deployment have yet to be revealed in terms of amount and timing.

 On 6 January, Turkish troops began moving into Libya. (ILKHA)