The Libyan House of Representatives approves the demarcation of the maritime borders with Türkiye and cancels the decision to boycott Ankara

The Libyan House of Representatives approved today, Tuesday (October 20, 2026) at the Council’s headquarters in Benghazi, the second to be headed by the new Presidency of the Council, led by Al-Salihin Abdel Nabi. It was not possible to adopt the agreement during Aguila Saleh’s presidency of the House of Representatives, which lasted 12 years.

On November 27, 2019, a Libyan-Turkish memorandum of understanding was concluded to demarcate the maritime borders between the two countries. It was signed at that time between the head of the Presidential Council of the former Government of National Accord in Libya, Fayez al-Sarraj, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. It was approved by the Turkish Parliament but was unable to be signed by his Libyan counterpart.

What is the content of the agreement?

The signing of the agreement coincided with another memorandum of understanding signed between the two parties regarding security and military cooperation between the two countries, which led to the end of the Tripoli War in 2019/2020, which ended with the signing of a ceasefire agreement between the forces of eastern and western Libya.

The agreement aims to define areas of maritime jurisdiction in the Mediterranean Sea between Libya and Turkey, as it drew a sea line linking the southern Turkish and eastern Libyan coasts, bypassing the traditional maritime spaces intercepted by Greek islands. The agreement also allows the two parties to approve new economic zones, which gives the two countries sovereign rights to prospect and explore energy, natural gas and oil in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Criticisms of the agreement

The agreement sparked a wave of widespread political and legal objections at the regional and international levels, especially by Egypt, Greece and Cyprus, which considered it illegal, under the pretext that it ignores the rights of the Greek islands in territorial waters and economic zones in accordance with the international law of the sea.

This is in addition to the European Union's objection to the agreement on the grounds that it violates the rights of other countries and increases the tension in the situation in the Mediterranean.