Egypt condemns Turkish parliament's Libya decision

CAIRO - Egypt strongly condemned on Thursday a vote by Turkey's parliament vote to allow a troop deployment to Libya, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Egypt, which backs Libya’s strongman General Khalifa Haftar, said any such deployment could "negatively affect the stability of the Mediterranean region" and called on the international community to urgently respond to the move.

This comes despite Turkish Presidential spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin's claim on Sunday that Egypt is “very happy” with the controversial Turkish-Libyan agreements on maritime boundaries and security cooperation in the Mediterranean Sea.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi recently met with French counterpart Emmanuel Macron with both urging the ‘greatest restraint’ by Libyan and international authorities to avoid worsening the conflict. They agreed on the need for a political solution negotiated under UN auspices.

Turkey’s presidency said, less than an hour after bill was passed, that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had discussed the possible bill with US President Donald Trump.

Trump and Erdogan "stressed the importance of diplomacy in resolving regional issues," the Turkish presidency said. The situation in Syria was also addressed on the call, it added.

Analysts say Ankara's recent moves are a response to being frozen out of regional energy deals, most notably the "East Mediterranean Gas Forum", formed this year by Cyprus, Greece, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Italy and the Palestinian territories.