Libya's House of Representatives unanimously ratifies Turkey's maritime jurisdiction agreement after 7 years

Libya's House of Representatives unanimously ratified the Memorandum of Understanding on the Delimitation of Maritime Jurisdiction Areas signed with Turkey on November 27, 2019; in the same session, the rejection decision made on January 8, 2020 was also annulled. This step ended the remaining legal disputes over the agreement.

The agreement had previously been signed with the Government of National Accord, approved by the Turkish Grand National Assembly on December 5, 2019, notified to the UN on March 18, 2020, and registered with the UN on September 30, 2022. The signatures affixed on November 27, 2019 had aligned Greece, as well as Egypt, the UAE, Israel, and France against Turkey as a unified bloc. The rejection decision issued by the Haftar-controlled parliament on January 8, 2020 had been used as the principal legal basis for objections to Turkey's Eastern Mediterranean claims.

Following the ratification, the coastal line from Marmaris-Fethiye-Kaş and Libya's Derne-Tobruk-Bordiya coastal line entered neighboring status. In this area, fishing, oil and natural gas exploration, and drilling licensing now fall under the joint jurisdiction of the two countries. The agreement also creates a maritime buffer zone between Greece and the Republic of Cyprus and Egypt; it places a significant obstacle before the rhetoric of the Seville Map, which aims to confine Turkey to the Gulf of Antalya.

The Foreign Ministry announced that it welcomed the ratification. In the ministry's statement, it noted that the Memorandum of Understanding in question "safeguards the mutual rights and interests of the two countries on the basis of international law and principles of equity" and contributes to deepening cooperation between the countries.