By Jeyhun Aliyev and Gozde Bayar
ANKARA (AA) – Given the threats Turkey faces, updating NATO's security codes will be "inevitable", the Turkish vice president said Thursday.
Speaking at a public event in the capital Ankara, Oktay said that through its "historic agreement" with Libya on maritime frontiers in the Eastern Mediterranean, Turkey had made an "important contribution" to "sustainable peace".
He added that the Turkish parliament would vote on the Turkey-Libya deal on Thursday.
On Nov. 27, at the Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul, Turkey and Libya’s Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) signed the memorandum laying out the two countries’ marine jurisdictions.
Libya, an oil-rich country, has remained beset by turmoil since 2011, when longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi was ousted and killed in a NATO-backed uprising after four decades in power. The country has since seen the emergence of two rival seats of power: one in eastern Libya, to which military commander Khalifa Haftar is affiliated, and the Government of National Accord, which enjoys UN recognition.
The memorandum asserts Turkey’s rights in the Eastern Mediterranean in the face of unilateral drilling by the Greek Cypriot administration, clarifying that the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) also has rights to the resources in the area.
Turkey meanwhile has consistently contested the Greek Cypriot administration’s unilateral drilling in the Eastern Mediterranean, asserting that the TRNC also has rights to the resources in the area.
