Libya-Turkey Maritime Pact: Eastern Parliament Unanimously Ratifies Sea Corridor

The Libyan parliament in the east voted unanimously on Tuesday to approve a maritime agreement with Turkey. This decision establishes a direct economic corridor between the two nations and reverses the stance of the eastern government, which had previously opposed the deal. Turkey's Foreign Ministry welcomed the vote immediately after the session concluded.

The corridor physically links Turkey's southern coastline with Libya's northern coast. Recent geological surveys have identified large oil and gas deposits in the waters between the two countries. Estimates suggest that natural gas reserves in this area could be worth several hundred billion US dollars. Ankara and Tripoli aim to secure joint economic rights to these resources and begin exploitation.

The legal conflict with Greece centers on the status of islands located near the proposed route. The corridor bypasses Greek islands, including Crete, Karpathos, and Rhodes. Athens maintains that it holds a comprehensive exclusive economic zone around these territories. Greece's Foreign Ministry announced its firm rejection of the accord on X, noting that the European Union supports this position. The EU described the memorandum as null and void because 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, reinforced this stance in a post on X. She stated that she had raised the issue of the Libyan vote and emphasized that the agreement infringes upon the sovereign rights of third states.

The dispute traces back to 2019, when Turkey first agreed to the corridor with the UN-recognized Government of National Accord in western Libya. At that time, the rival government in the east opposed the arrangement. Political dynamics in Libya have shifted considerably since then. In 2019, civil war was active, and Turkey intervened militarily to support the Tripoli government against an offensive by eastern General Khalifa Hifter. A subsequent diplomatic effort brought a rapprochement with Hifter's camp. Turkish firms have since won reconstruction contracts worth billions of dollars. Turkey's state oil company, TPAO, is currently working with Libya's National Oil Corporation on plans for seismic surveys off the coast. Additionally, Turkey supplies weapons and training to Hifter's forces, a move that counters Egyptian and Russian influence in the eastern region.

Greece relies on the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea to justify its claims. Article 121 of the convention grants inhabited islands that support their own economic life the same exclusive economic zone rights as mainland territory. Athens argues this applies to Crete, Rhodes, and Lesbos. It also cites a 2022 International Court of Justice ruling involving Colombia and Nicaragua, which held that overlapping maritime interests require a fair demarcation based on coastlines, geography, and the effects of any boundary.

Turkey argues that the specific geography of the Mediterranean deserves 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 how a fair division of these waters should look.

The new agreement also poses a challenge to the planned EastMed pipeline. This project was designed to carry gas from Israel and Cyprus through Greece to bolster EU energy security. The new corridor cuts across the route of this pipeline. Turkey has argued that any cable or pipeline projects on its claimed continental shelf require its consent.

The next steps involve ongoing diplomatic negotiations and potential legal challenges. The region faces the possibility of splitting into two distinct blocs: a Turkey-Libya axis and an EU-supported grouping of Greece, Cyprus, Egypt, and Israel.