Eastern Libya parliament approves Turkey maritime deal

Libya's eastern-based House of Representatives voted unanimously on Tuesday to approve the 2019 maritime-boundary memorandum signed with Turkey, according to the parliament's official news agency. Reuters reported that the decision reverses the chamber's 2020 rejection of the agreement and its earlier rupture with Ankara.

The memorandum was originally concluded by Turkey and Libya's former UN-backed government in Tripoli. It draws a maritime corridor across the eastern Mediterranean and has been challenged by Greece and Egypt. The European Union has said the arrangement cannot produce legal consequences for third states and does not comply with the law of the sea. Those objections are not removed by Tuesday's vote.

The change is politically important because the House of Representatives is aligned with the authorities controlling eastern Libya, while Turkey has historically backed the rival administration in the west. Approval may open space for broader cooperation with Ankara and gives Turkey support from both sides of Libya's institutional divide. It does not reunify Libya's competing governments or settle offshore boundaries. The next questions are whether the eastern authorities implement the agreement, how neighbouring states respond and whether any energy exploration proceeds in disputed waters without a negotiated regional framework.