Turkey has called on Egypt and Libya’s Tripoli-based government to enter talks and agree on a maritime border between the two countries, Turkish broadcaster TRT World reported yesterday, citing unnamed Turkish diplomatic sources. Libya’s Government of National Unity (GNU) on Friday called for negotiations as it denounced Egypt’s “unilateral demarcation” of its maritime borders, saying in a statement that last week’s decree by President Abdel Fattah El Sisi violated Libya’s territorial waters. The decree does not overlap with Turkey’s territorial claims but appears to violate Libya's rights, TRT cites the Turkish sources as saying.

REFRESHER: Maritime borders in the oil rich East Mediterranean have been a subject of contention since Libya’s Tripoli-based government and Turkey controversially declared a new exclusive economic zone in the Mediterranean in 2020. Egypt and Greece condemned the move and established their own exclusive economic zone in response. Turkey and Libya then inked an agreement in October that may allow the two nations to begin exploring for gas and oil in the region.