Libya East Approves $100 Billion Turkey Sea Route

The eastern Mediterranean has long been a contested space where national borders meet deep water and valuable resources. On Tuesday, Libya’s House of Representatives voted unanimously to ratify a maritime agreement with Turkey.

The deal creates a direct economic corridor linking Turkey’s southern coast to Libya’s northern coast. Estimates suggest the area holds natural gas reserves worth several hundred billion US dollars. Ankara and Tripoli intend to secure their rights to these resources and exploit them jointly.

This vote marks a sharp reversal for the eastern government, which opposed the original 2019 agreement with the UN-recognized government in the west. Turkey’s Foreign Ministry welcomed the new decision. The shift follows a decade of changing alliances in Libya, including a Turkish military intervention in 2019 that supported the western government against General Khalifa Hifter’s forces.

Since then, Turkey has strengthened ties with Hifter’s camp. Turkish firms have won reconstruction contracts worth billions, and the state oil company TPAO is planning seismic surveys with Libya’s National Oil Corporation. Turkey also supplies weapons and training to eastern forces, a move that counters Egyptian and Russian influence in the region.

Greece views the new corridor as a direct challenge to its sovereignty. Athens claims an exclusive economic zone around its islands, including Crete, Karpathos, and Rhodes. The Greek Foreign Ministry stated on X that it firmly rejects the accord with European Union backing. The EU called the memorandum null and void, arguing it violates the sovereign rights of third states and contradicts the Law of the Sea.

Kaja Kallas, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs, echoed this stance. She wrote on X that the Libyan vote infringes upon the sovereign rights of third states. Greece relies on Article 121 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which grants inhabited islands the same economic rights as mainland territory. Athens points to a 2022 International Court of Justice ruling that requires fair demarcation of overlapping interests.

Turkey argues that Mediterranean geography requires special consideration. Ankara contends that granting full economic zones to every small Greek island would cut Turkey off from the open sea. Turkey has not signed the convention and does not accept arbitration by a UN tribunal. The new corridor also intersects with the route of the planned EastMed pipeline, which was designed to carry gas from Israel and Cyprus to the EU. Turkey says it requires consent for any pipeline projects on its claimed continental shelf.