Libya Ratifies $100B Turkey Sea Deal

Estimates place natural gas reserves in the targeted Mediterranean region at several hundred billion US dollars. Libya’s parliament unanimously ratified a maritime agreement with Turkey on Tuesday, establishing a direct economic corridor between the two nations. The vote reverses a position held by the eastern government for seven years and is set to intensify friction in the eastern Mediterranean, particularly with Greece.

The origins of the dispute date to 2019, when Turkey signed the initial corridor agreement with the UN-recognized Government of National Accord in western Libya. At that time, the rival government in the east opposed the arrangement. Tuesday’s vote marks a formal reversal by the eastern parliament, a development that Turkey’s Foreign Ministry welcomed immediately. The planned route connects Turkey’s southern coast to Libya’s northern coast, bypassing Greek islands including Crete, Karpathos, and Rhodes.

Athens asserts a comprehensive exclusive economic zone (EEZ) around these islands and has announced its opposition to the new accord. Greece’s Foreign Ministry stated on the platform X that it firmly rejects the agreement with the backing of the European Union. The EU described the memorandum as null and void, arguing it violates the sovereign rights of third states and conflicts with the Law of the Sea.

Kaja Kallas, the EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, echoed this sentiment. She wrote on X that she had addressed the Libyan vote and stressed that it infringes upon the sovereign rights of third states. The core of the legal conflict centers on the legitimacy of competing territorial claims. Greece relies on the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, specifically Article 121. This article grants inhabited islands that support their own economic life the same EEZ rights as mainland territory.

Athens applies this rule to Crete, Rhodes, and Lesbos. It also cites a 2022 International Court of Justice ruling in the Colombia and Nicaragua case. That ruling held that overlapping maritime interests require a fair demarcation based on coastlines, geography, and boundary effects. Turkey counters that Mediterranean geography requires special consideration. Ankara argues that if every small Greek island near the Turkish and Cypriot coasts received a full EEZ, Turkey would be largely cut off from the open sea.

Turkey has never signed the UN convention and therefore does not accept arbitration by a UN tribunal. Legal experts remain divided on how to fairly divide the waters in this specific region. The political landscape in Libya has shifted since the civil war of 2019, during which Turkey intervened militarily to support the Tripoli government against an offensive by eastern General Khalifa Hifter. Since then, a Turkish charm offensive has led to a rapprochement with Hifter's camp.

Turkish firms have secured reconstruction contracts worth billions, and the state oil company TPAO is collaborating with Libya's National Oil Corporation on 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 also threatens the planned EastMed pipeline, which is designed to carry gas from Israel and Cyprus through Greece to enhance EU energy security. The new corridor cuts across the pipeline's intended route, and Turkey has argued that any cable or pipeline projects on its claimed continental shelf require its consent.