NICOSIA, Cyprus — Turkey's willingness to dispatch troops to Libya is “unacceptable" and such a move would constitute unwanted meddling in the affairs of a friendly country, the speaker of the north African country's parliament said Saturday. Aguila Saleh said in a joint statement with his Cypriot counterpart that Turkey's actions are ratcheting up tensions and destabilizing the wider region. Saleh and Cypriot parliamentary speaker Demetris Syllouris also reiterated their condemnation of a maritime border agreement that Turkey signed with Libya's Tripoli-based government — but which hasn't been ratified, as necessary, by the Libyan parliament — as a “flagrant violation of international law that's devoid of any legal basis.”According to the Cyprus News Agency, Saleh said that Prime Minister Fayez Sarraj isn't authorized to sign any agreements on his own because according to an agreement on how the Libyan government should function, any agreement needs to have the unanimous approval of the nine-member presidential council and also requires parliament's approval.

Source: International New York Times December 28, 2019 12:33 UTC