Libyan court suspends energy exploration deal with Turkey

Libyan court suspends energy exploration deal with Turkey

A Libyan court on Monday suspended an energy exploration deal that the Tripoli government signed last year with Turkey, a judiciary source said, pausing an agreement that angered other Mediterranean powers and inflamed Libya’s own internal crisis.The agreement had included scope for oil and gas exploitation in waters that Ankara and Tripoli have declared as their own, but which are also in part claimed by Egypt and Greece.The deal had spurred rivalry in the eastern Mediterranean and played into a political standoff in Libya between the Government of National Unity (GNU) in Tripoli, in western Libya, and an eastern-based parliament which rejects its legitimacy.For all the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.Tripoli’s appeals court, which issued Monday’s decision, left room for the GNU to itself appeal the ruling, the source said, without giving further details on the basis for the decision.In 2019, Ankara and Tripoli struck a deal to establish a maritime boundary in eastern Mediterranean waters also disputed by Egypt and Turkey’s historic rival Greece, prompting both those countries to reject the agreement.The GNU was installed in early 2021 through a UN-backed peace process and was initially supported by the eastern-based parliament.It has