Libya and Turkey Finalize Deal Covering $100 Billion in Gas
A unanimous parliamentary vote establishes a direct maritime corridor, overriding Greek objections and altering the regional energy landscape.
By Wei Zhang ·
Ordinary people in the eastern Mediterranean now live under a new legal framework for offshore resources. Libya’s parliament voted unanimously on Tuesday to approve a maritime agreement with Turkey. This decision creates a direct economic corridor linking the two nations’ coasts. The vote resolves a years-long disagreement between rival Libyan governments.
The corridor connects Turkey’s southern coast with Libya’s northern coast. Recent surveys indicate large oil and gas deposits exist in this area. Estimates suggest natural gas reserves worth several hundred billion US dollars lie beneath the seabed. Ankara and Tripoli intend to secure their economic rights to these resources. Both countries plan to exploit the deposits jointly.
The agreement directly challenges Greece’s territorial claims. The planned corridor ignores several Greek islands, including Crete, Karpathos, and Rhodes. Athens maintains that it holds a comprehensive exclusive economic zone around these landmasses. Greece’s Foreign Ministry announced its opposition on social media. The ministry stated that the European Union backs its position. The EU called the memorandum null and void because it violates the sovereign rights of third states.
Kaja Kallas, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, also reacted to the vote. She noted that the agreement infringes upon the sovereign rights of third states. Greece relies on the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea for its legal standing. Article 121 of that convention grants inhabited islands full economic zone rights. Athens argues this applies to Crete, Rhodes, and Lesbos.
Turkey presents a different view of maritime geography. Ankara argues that if every small Greek island near the Turkish coast received a full economic zone, Turkey would be cut off from the open sea. Turkey never signed the UN convention and does not accept arbitration by its tribunal. Legal experts remain divided on what constitutes a fair division of the sea in this specific region.
Political dynamics in Libya have shifted since the corridor was first proposed in 2019. At that time, the UN-recognized government in the west agreed to the deal. The rival government in the east opposed it during the civil war. Turkey intervened militarily in 2019 to support the western government against General Khalifa Hifter. Since then, Turkish companies have won reconstruction contracts worth billions of dollars. Turkey’s state oil company is now working with Libya’s National Oil Corporation on seismic surveys.
The new corridor also impacts the planned EastMed pipeline. This project was designed to carry gas from Israel and Cyprus through Greece to the European Union. The new maritime boundary cuts across the pipeline’s route. Turkey has argued that it must consent to any cable or pipeline projects on its claimed continental shelf. The region may now split into two distinct blocs.
The first bloc consists of Turkey and Libya. The second grouping includes Greece, Cyprus, Egypt, and Israel, supported by the European Union. This division sets the stage for continued diplomatic friction in the eastern Mediterranean. The unanimous vote in Libya signals a unified front for the corridor's implementation. No further legislative steps are required in Libya to activate the agreement.
Source: Deutsche Welle
