Libyan Parliament Ratifies Turkey Maritime Agreement

Libya’s parliament voted unanimously on Tuesday to approve a maritime agreement with Turkey.

The legislation creates a direct economic corridor linking Turkey’s southern coast to Libya’s northern coast. The move reverses the position of the eastern government, which had opposed the deal when the UN-recognized Government of National Accord in Tripoli first signed it in 2019.

The corridor spans an area where recent surveys have identified large oil and gas deposits. Estimates suggest the natural gas reserves under the seabed are worth several hundred billion US dollars. Ankara and Tripoli intend to secure their economic rights to these resources and exploit them jointly.

The planned route bypasses several Greek islands, including Crete, Karpathos, and Rhodes. Athens maintains that it holds a comprehensive exclusive economic zone around these territories. Greece’s Foreign Ministry stated on X that it firmly rejects the accord with the backing of the European Union. The EU declared the memorandum null and void, arguing it violates the sovereign rights of third states and conflicts with the Law of the Sea.

Kaja Kallas, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, addressed the vote on social media. She noted that she had raised the issue and stressed that the agreement infringes upon the sovereign rights of third states. Greece bases its legal claim on the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Article 121 of the convention grants inhabited islands that support an economic life of their own the same exclusive economic zone rights as mainland territory. Athens cites a 2022 ruling by the International Court of Justice involving Colombia and Nicaragua, which established that overlapping interests require a fair demarcation based on coastlines and geography.

Turkey argues that Mediterranean geography warrants special consideration. Ankara contends that if every small Greek island near the Turkish and Cypriot coasts received a full exclusive economic zone, Turkey would be largely cut off from the open sea. Turkey has not signed the convention and does not accept arbitration by a UN tribunal. Legal experts disagree on what a fair division of the waters would look like.

The political landscape in Libya has shifted since the 2019 civil war. Turkey intervened militarily to support the Tripoli government against an offensive by eastern General Khalifa Hifter. A subsequent rapprochement with Hifter’s camp has led to Turkish firms winning billions of dollars in reconstruction contracts. Turkey’s state oil company TPAO is now working with Libya’s National Oil Corporation on plans for seismic surveys off the coast. Turkey also supplies weapons and training to Hifter’s forces, countering Egyptian and Russian influence in the east.

The new agreement impacts the planned EastMed pipeline, which is designed to carry gas from Israel and Cyprus through Greece to the European Union. The new corridor cuts across the pipeline’s intended route. Turkey has argued that cable or pipeline projects on its claimed continental shelf require its consent. The region may split into two blocs: a Turkey-Libya axis and an EU-supported grouping of Greece, Cyprus, Egypt, and Israel.