Sisi’s maritime declaration shields Crete
Egyptian presidential decree outlines border with Libya in blow to Tripoli-Ankara memorandum
Despite Ankara’s efforts to normalize relations with Cairo, the Turkish-Libyan maritime memorandum received another blow to its credibility with the presidential decree of Egypt’s Abdel Fattah el-Sisi declaring the Egypt-Libya maritime border unilaterally with a western limit at the 25th meridian – i.e. even further west than the limit of the August 2020 Greece-Egypt partial demarcation agreement.
The recent developments around Crete serve as a shield for Greece’s rights, as the exploration for hydrocarbons to the southwest of the island at the request of US oil giant ExxonMobil was followed by Sisi’s decree, which transfers Egypt’s claims against Libya further west, dealing another blow to the Turkish-Libyan memorandum. In effect, it makes Tripoli’s desire for exploration south of the eastern part of Crete, where Egypt is now asserting claims, even more difficult.
Although the decree does not reach the median line (as perceived by Greece) leaving room for a future tripartite agreement between Greece, Egypt and Libya, it practically covers even more of Crete against the possibility of Tripoli requesting that exploration be conducted by the Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO) at a point near the east of the island.
This was the second serious challenge posed by Egypt to the provisions of the Turkish-Libyan memorandum. Far more stinging for Ankara was that it did not come after an agreement with Greece, but on the unilateral initiative of the Egyptian president.
Pairing Sisi’s announcements with ExxonMobil’s exploration to the southwest of Crete, it becomes de facto evident to the Tripoli administration that it cannot act solely to serve Turkish interests in a way that violates the rights and concerns of other countries in the region. Sisi’s message came immediately after the joint letter of the Turkish and Tripoli foreign ministers to the UN against Greece’s rights off Crete.
“It is a unilateral demarcation. It is accurate under the law of the sea. And it wants to demonstrate its claims to the areas left out of the Greek-Egyptian demarcation west of the 26th meridian,” Petros Liakouras, professor of international law and director of the International and European Studies program at the University of Piraeus, told Kathimerini.
He also stressed that Sisi’s decree “rams the Libyan side of the Libyan-Turkish demarcation.” “Now it extends this line. This helps us because it further cuts off the projection of the Turkish coast toward Libya.”
