Libya.. Parliament approves a maritime agreement with Türkiye after rejecting it for 6 years

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The House of Representatives in eastern Libya approved on Tuesday a memorandum of understanding in the maritime fields with Türkiye, after rejecting it for six years, in a step that reflects improved relations between eastern Libya and Ankara.

House of Representatives spokesman Abdullah Belhaq said in a statement that the House “voted unanimously to ratify and adopt the memorandum of understanding signed between the Government of National Accord and the Government of the Republic of Turkey on defining areas of maritime jurisdiction in the Mediterranean Sea.”

The Council also voted unanimously to cancel a decision it took in 2020 to refuse to ratify the two memorandums of understanding concluded between the Government of National Accord and the Turkish government.

Libya, which has witnessed instability since the fall and subsequent killing of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, is still divided between the United Nations-recognized government, based in Tripoli and headed by Abdul Hamid al-Dabaiba, and the rival administration in the east supported by Khalifa Haftar, commander of the “Libyan National Army.”

At the end of 2019, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed two memorandums of understanding and military and naval cooperation with the former head of the Presidential Council of the Libyan Government of National Accord, Fayez al-Sarraj.

The memorandum specified the areas of joint maritime jurisdiction between Tripoli and Ankara, and this step aroused the ire and rejection of several Mediterranean countries, most notably Greece.

The House of Representatives then issued its decision to reject the two memorandums, considering them as violating the country’s “national sovereignty.”

Former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aguila Saleh, was one of the strongest opponents of the memorandum with Turkey, and repeatedly stated that he would not allow the imposition of any agreement outside the constitutional frameworks, stressing that any agreement that was not presented to Parliament and not ratified by the representatives remains without “legal effect.”

However, the election of Al-Salihin Abdulnabi as the new speaker of the House of Representatives, and the mutual diplomatic moves between Ankara and Benghazi that culminated in visits by Haftar’s sons to Turkey, apparently contributed to the House of Representatives reconsidering its position on the memorandum of understanding.

In October 2022, Turkey signed a memorandum of understanding with the National Unity Government headed by Abdul Hamid Dabaiba granting Turkey the rights to explore for oil and natural gas in Libyan territorial waters.

The agreement is part of a years-long dispute over sovereignty claims related to maritime borders and energy exploration rights in the eastern Mediterranean.

Egypt, Greece and Cyprus have also rejected this agreement for a long time, as they see it as violating their claims to maritime sovereignty.

Athens said in a Foreign Ministry statement on Tuesday that the agreement “remains illegal, null and void, violates the international law of the seas, and violates the sovereign rights of countries in the region.”

The statement added, "We call on the Libyan side to refrain from any action that violates international law and undermines stability in the eastern Mediterranean."

For its part, the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomed the Libyan Parliament’s decision, saying that the agreement respects the mutual rights and interests of the two countries under international law and the principles of justice.

"Türkiye intends to continue working with all partners to ensure security, stability and peace in the Mediterranean basin," the ministry said.

In 2020, Athens and Cairo signed an agreement to demarcate an exclusive economic zone in the eastern Mediterranean, an agreement that Türkiye opposes.

Last year, Greece approved oil and gas exploration work for a consortium led by the American company Chevron south of the island of Crete, which Ankara denounced and considered “illegal.”