{"id":838709,"date":"2026-11-03T08:20:00","date_gmt":"2026-11-03T13:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/?p=838709"},"modified":"2026-11-03T08:20:00","modified_gmt":"2026-11-03T13:20:00","slug":"turkeys-military-attache-office-in-cairo-tells-mereja-media-its-sea-border-offer-to-egypt-still-stands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/838709","title":{"rendered":"Turkey’s military attache office in Cairo tells Mereja Media its sea border offer to Egypt still stands"},"content":{"rendered":"

Turkey’s maritime border offer to Egypt “remains valid, now more strongly than ever,” its military attache office in Cairo told Mereja Media, while Egypt’s ambassador in Athens said Cairo is not negotiating it.<\/p>\n

The office replied on October 31 to an email Mereja Media sent after its report on the offer, which Turkey’s Ministry of National Defence made public on October 28. The ministry’s press and public relations adviser, Rear Admiral Zeki Akturk, said then that Ankara was ready to sign a maritime boundary agreement with Egypt, and that Cairo would gain about 15,000 square kilometers more sea area than under a deal with Greece. “Regarding the statement made by the Press and Public Relations Advisor to the Turkish Ministry of National Defense, there is no inaccuracy whatsoever,” the reply said.<\/p>\n

The proposal, it went on, is one Ankara has been “advocating for years” and is “entirely in the interest of our brotherly nation, Egypt, and its esteemed people.” “Its legitimacy is rooted in international law, numerous precedents from similar international cases, and the principles of equity, justice, and the length of the coastline belonging to the mainland,” the office wrote. That last point is the heart of Turkey’s case: it argues that sea borders should be drawn between the mainland coasts of Turkey and Egypt, giving little weight to Greek islands such as Crete and Rhodes, while Greece says the islands are entitled to their own waters under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which Turkey has not signed.<\/p>\n

The reply also took issue with the way the article used the word “Cyprus,” which it said was accurate “neither de facto nor de jure.” If the word referred to a state rather than the island, the office asked, to which state do the people living north of the UN buffer zone, known as the Green Line, belong, and what is that state called? “Excluding or ignoring the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus does not change the facts.” Only Turkey recognizes the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, declared in 1983 in the north of the island. The Republic of Cyprus is a member of the United Nations and the European Union, and Mereja Media’s reporting follows that international usage.<\/p>\n

Cairo, for its part, has given no sign of interest. Egypt’s ambassador to Greece, Murad Murad, told the Greek newspapers Apogevmatini and Parapolitika that no maritime agreement between Egypt and Turkey is on the table, according to a summary posted on November 1 by the Turkish journalist Bedrettin B\u00f6l\u00fckba\u015f\u0131. “The Turks are trying to justify to us the agreement they made with the Libyans, but we are in no way discussing a Turkey Egypt agreement,” the ambassador was quoted as saying. “We condemn the Turkey Libya memorandum.” He said Greece and Egypt are bound by friendship and close cooperation, and that while no date has been set for talks on extending their own maritime deal, the political will has been clearly stated.<\/p>\n

Egypt and Greece signed a partial maritime boundary agreement in August 2020, months after Turkey signed its own memorandum with Libya’s government in Tripoli. Around the time of Akturk’s statement, Egypt, Greece, the Republic of Cyprus, the European Union, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates lodged a joint objection at the United Nations to the Turkey Libya memorandum, arguing that its ratification by Libya’s parliament does not give it legal force and that it violates the rights of third countries, the Cypriot outlet Bug\u00fcn K\u0131br\u0131s reported. Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis also answered the offer, saying it had caused concern in Athens, Turkish media reported.<\/p>\n

On Turkish social media the debate has run hot. The account @hermes_z, which posts on Turkish geopolitics, shared remarks by the retired admiral Cihat Yayc\u0131 defending the mainland principle and wrote that Greece was trying to turn international law into a tool of its political propaganda, while the retired admiral Cem G\u00fcrdeniz discussed the Greek and Egyptian talks on Sputnik T\u00fcrkiye. In Athens, the response was summed up by the Greek outlet Pagenews under the headline “The Mediterranean is not for sale.”<\/p>\n

Egypt’s Foreign Ministry has not publicly responded to the attache office’s comments. The office ended its reply by thanking Mereja Media and said that while it “may take some time for the rest of the world to acknowledge this clear reality,” it offered its thoughts for consideration.<\/p>\n

Sources<\/h4>\n