Libya's eastern-based House of Representatives has approved a landmark maritime boundary agreement signed with Türkiye in 2019, marking a significant diplomatic development that could reshape political alignments and competing maritime claims in the Eastern Mediterranean.
The decision is particularly noteworthy because it comes from a parliament closely associated with the political camp of eastern Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar, whose forces fought against the internationally recognized government in Tripoli that originally signed the agreement with Ankara.
The parliament also revoked a 2020 decision to sever political ties with Türkiye, according to a statement from the Libyan parliament on Tuesday.
The move represents a potentially important breakthrough for Ankara, which has spent recent years expanding diplomatic engagement with eastern Libya while maintaining its longstanding strategic partnership with the Tripoli-based authorities.
Beyond bilateral relations, the parliamentary approval carries implications for longstanding maritime disputes involving Türkiye, Greece and Egypt, as well as future energy exploration in the Mediterranean.
On Nov. 27, 2019, Türkiye and Libya's then internationally recognized Government of National Accord (GNA), led by Fayez al-Sarraj, signed a memorandum of understanding delimiting their respective maritime jurisdiction areas in the Mediterranean.
The agreement established a maritime boundary between the two countries based on Ankara's interpretation of international maritime law, including the principle of equitable delimitation and the geographical relationship between their coastlines.
Türkiye maintains that its extensive Mediterranean coastline entitles it to maritime jurisdiction areas that should not be disproportionately restricted by Greek islands situated close to the Turkish mainland.
Greece disputes that interpretation, arguing that its islands, including Crete and Rhodes, generate maritime entitlements that the Türkiye-Libya agreement fails to respect.
The agreement entered into force in December 2019 and was subsequently registered with the United Nations.
Anadolu's reporting on the agreement's first anniversary in November 2020 highlighted its strategic importance for Ankara, which views the memorandum as a means of protecting its maritime rights and countering attempts to exclude Türkiye from regional energy arrangements.
For Libya, the agreement also established maritime claims that differ significantly from those advanced by Greece, particularly in waters south of Crete.
The significance lies primarily in Libya's longstanding political division.
Since the collapse of Muammar Gaddafi's government in 2011, Libya has experienced successive conflicts, rival administrations and competing centers of political authority.
The country remains divided between the UN-recognized Government of National Unity (GNU) in Tripoli and an eastern-based administration supported by Haftar's forces.
Türkiye backed the Tripoli government militarily during Haftar's 2019-2020 offensive against the capital, helping prevent its capture.
The eastern-based House of Representatives opposed the maritime agreement and questioned the authority of the Tripoli government to conclude it without parliamentary approval.
That opposition became a major point of contention, allowing critics to argue that the agreement lacked the necessary domestic political endorsement in Libya.
The latest parliamentary decision therefore marks a substantial reversal.
An institution that previously challenged the agreement has now endorsed it, potentially removing one of the most significant internal Libyan objections to the 2019 memorandum.
However, parliamentary approval does not automatically resolve every question concerning the agreement's implementation or its implications for third countries.
The parliamentary decision follows years of diplomatic efforts by Türkiye to establish working relationships with Libya's rival political and military authorities.
Although Ankara maintained close security, economic and political ties with Tripoli, it increasingly sought direct engagement with eastern Libya.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan received House of Representatives Speaker Aguila Saleh at meetings in 2022 and 2023, helping establish channels for dialogue.
The rapprochement gained further momentum in 2025.
In August that year, Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin visited Benghazi for talks with Khalifa Haftar, a development that illustrated the growing diplomatic engagement between Ankara and eastern Libya.
The eastern parliament also established a technical committee to examine the 2019 maritime agreement, raising expectations that its longstanding opposition could eventually be reconsidered.
Contacts continued into 2026.
On June 23, Kalin met Saddam Haftar, deputy commander of eastern Libyan forces, in Benghazi to discuss maintaining peace, unifying Libya's rival administrations and military forces, and expanding bilateral cooperation.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan also engaged with eastern Libyan officials as Ankara pursued relations across the country's political divide.
These developments suggested that Türkiye's relationship with eastern Libya was evolving from confrontation toward pragmatic cooperation.
The latest parliamentary approval is among the clearest indications yet of that shift.
The agreement has been a central source of disagreement between Türkiye and Greece over maritime boundaries, offshore energy resources and the rights of islands under international law.
Athens argues that the 2019 memorandum disregards maritime entitlements generated by Greek islands, particularly Crete, and has repeatedly described the agreement as invalid.
Ankara rejects those objections, maintaining that maritime delimitation must account for coastal geography, proportionality and equitable principles rather than granting islands an automatic and unrestricted effect in determining boundaries.
In August 2020, Greece and Egypt signed a separate maritime delimitation agreement covering areas that partly overlap with the claims advanced by Türkiye and Libya.
The competing agreements have contributed to diplomatic tensions and uncertainty over offshore exploration activities.
The latest Libyan parliamentary approval could complicate Athens' efforts to challenge the 2019 memorandum by weakening arguments based on the absence of support from Libya's eastern institutions.
Greece actively sought to prevent such an outcome.
In July 2025, Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis held meetings with officials in Benghazi and Tripoli as Athens intensified its diplomatic engagement over the maritime dispute.
In September that year, Greece reiterated its position that the memorandum was invalid during talks with Libyan officials.
The disagreement continued in December 2025, when Greek Parliament Speaker Nikitas Kaklamanis called for the agreement's cancellation during talks with his Libyan counterpart, Aguila Saleh.
Libya's parliament responded by condemning the demand as interference in the country's sovereign affairs.
The decision could also strengthen the political environment for expanding energy cooperation between Türkiye and Libya.
The two countries have already taken steps toward offshore exploration.
In June 2025, Türkiye's state-owned Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO) and Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC) signed a memorandum covering geological and geophysical studies in four offshore areas.
Discussions also covered conducting a two-dimensional seismic survey spanning approximately 10,000 kilometers.
Cooperation advanced further in February 2026, when TPAO secured interests in two exploration blocks during Libya's first oil and gas licensing round in 17 years.
The Turkish company was awarded the onshore C3 block alongside Spain's Repsol, while the offshore O7 block went to a consortium involving TPAO, Repsol and Hungary's MOL.
These developments demonstrate that energy cooperation has progressed beyond diplomatic declarations toward concrete commercial opportunities.
Parliamentary endorsement of the maritime agreement could reduce political uncertainty surrounding future joint projects, although exploration and drilling would still depend on separate licensing, investment and operational decisions.
Egypt is another important actor in the Eastern Mediterranean equation.
Cairo has traditionally maintained close relations with eastern Libya's political and military leadership and has supported Haftar during various stages of the country's conflict.
Egypt also signed the 2020 maritime delimitation agreement with Greece, making it a central participant in the region's competing maritime arrangements.
Eastern Libya's endorsement of the Türkiye agreement therefore introduces a new consideration into Cairo's regional calculations.
However, the decision does not necessarily indicate a rupture between eastern Libya and Egypt.
Instead, it may reflect an increasingly pragmatic approach by Libyan political actors seeking to diversify their international relationships.
Relations between Ankara and Cairo have also improved considerably following years of regional rivalry, creating greater opportunities for diplomatic engagement over Libya and Eastern Mediterranean issues.
The immediate significance of the decision is political: a Libyan institution that previously opposed the 2019 agreement has now endorsed it.
The next steps will depend on the formal publication and implementation of the parliamentary decision, the positions adopted by Libya's rival authorities and the response of other Eastern Mediterranean countries.
For Türkiye, the development could consolidate years of diplomatic engagement with both western and eastern Libya while strengthening the domestic Libyan backing for a cornerstone of Ankara's maritime policy.
For Libya, it may provide another area of cooperation between rival political institutions, although the country's wider political and security divisions remain unresolved.
For Greece and Egypt, it creates a changed diplomatic environment without eliminating existing disagreements over maritime jurisdiction.
Nearly seven years after the agreement was signed, the endorsement by Libya's eastern-based parliament underscores how shifting political relationships within Libya can influence the broader geopolitical balance in the Eastern Mediterranean.
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