Oct 21 (Reuters) – Israel said on Wednesday it “strongly” condemned the Libyan eastern parliament’s approval of a maritime-boundaries deal with Turkey that drew swift criticism from Israeli ally Greece.
The deal approved on Tuesday is part of a years-old dispute over competing claims to sea borders and energy exploration rights in the eastern Mediterranean.
• “Regretfully, once again we see Turkey working to destabilise the east Mediterranean region,” the Israeli foreign ministry said in a statement.
• Israeli and Turkish leaders have escalated their rhetoric against each other as they remain sharply at odds over Syria and the war in Gaza.
• Greece and Turkey, NATO allies but historic rivals, have disputed maritime borders in the Aegean Sea and the eastern Mediterranean.
• Greece, Egypt and Cyprus have long been opposed to a maritime-boundaries deal between Libya and Turkey, as they see it as an infringement on their own maritime claims.
• Athens and Cairo signed an overlapping deal designating an exclusive economic zone in the eastern Mediterranean in 2020, which Turkey opposes.
(Reporting by Nayera Abdallah; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
