By Sami Zaptia.
London, 12 May 2020:
Libya’s internationally recognized government based in Tripoli, through a statement by its Ministry of Foreign Affairs, today rejected the joint statement by France, Greece, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Cyprus on the Libyan-Turkish Maritime Memorandum of Understanding.
It called the joint statement ‘‘blatant interference in Libya’s internal affairs and an unacceptable falsification of facts’’. It said that the statement contained ‘‘a number of fallacies and abuses against the Libyan state and its national sovereignty’’.
It insisted that the internationally recognized Libyan government ‘‘has a full and legitimate right to defend the interests of the Libyan state and the economic interests of the Libyan people as an internationally recognized government’’.
It said it was very surprised by the joint statement of the foreign ministers of France, Greece, Egypt and Cyprus ‘‘in conjunction with the UAE, which is said to be in the context of discussing developments in the eastern Mediterranean’’.
It insisted that the Libyan-Turkish memorandum of understanding was signed between the governments of ‘‘two Mediterranean states in accordance with international conventions and conventions and does not infringe on the rights of any third party’’.
‘‘We are surprised that the UAE is present in the issued statement, although it is a non-Mediterranean country, which suggests that there are other objectives and objectives’’, it added.
It added that the ‘‘UAE’s participation in this statement may be in solidarity with another country like it, attacking the Libyan people, both of which are interfering in Libya’s internal affairs’’.
The Libyan statement called on ‘‘Mediterranean countries to review their accounts of the Libyan issue and take a clear position on condemning the aggression against the capital Tripoli and that their interests are better served with a civilian government and not with a totalitarian dictatorial regime that uses militias and renegades. The signatories of the statement ignored the repeated crimes of militias.”
