Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that "Turkey will begin oil and gas explorations in Libyan waters after the recent agreement with the [Dbeibah] Government of National Unity.

Erdogan rejected criticism from the European Union and within Libya for seeking to expand energy cooperation with one of the country's two rival administrations, Bloomberg reported.

Erdogan said in Ankara late on Monday after a cabinet meeting, "We've started to work with Azerbaijan to double the capacity of Tanap, which is of critical importance," adding, "The hydrocarbon agreement with Libya has created a new area of cooperation in the field of oil and petroleum products production in the continental part of this country."

Last week, Ankara and the administration of Libyan Prime Minister Abdel Hamid Dbeibah signed an agreement that intensifies joint efforts to explore oil and natural gas.

Fathi Bashagha, who heads the Libyan government appointed by the House of Representatives, rejected the agreement, saying that "Dbeibah has no right to sign deals with foreign powers."

The Speaker of the Libyan House of Representatives, Aguila Saleh, confirmed that these agreements are "illegal and are baseless procedures", due to the end of the term of the government of Abdel Hamid Dbeibah on December 24, 2021.

Egypt and Greece also expressed their rejection of the agreement signed by the Libyan unity government with its Turkish counterpart for the exploration of oil and gas in the Mediterranean.

For its part, the National Unity government confirmed that "the Egyptian-Greek meeting represents an unacceptable interference in Libyan affairs, and a call for division and war."

It added that "the Libyan Political Agreement is a purely Libyan ownership, and under the auspices of the United Nations, it does not impose on the Libyans any specific form of a solution without their consent or against their will."