Turkey and Libya maritime deal sparks Mediterranean tensions

Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 24 Oct, 15:20 · Archive

Turkey and Libya have approved a maritime agreement to establish an economic corridor, sparking protests from Greece and the European Union.

Turkey and Libya have approved a maritime agreement establishing a direct economic corridor between the countries. Libya's parliament unanimously approved the deal on Tuesday, reversing previous opposition from the country's eastern parliament. The agreement aims to allow Turkey and Libya to jointly exploit oil and gas deposits in the region, with estimates suggesting natural gas reserves worth several hundred billion US dollars may lie beneath the seabed.

Greece has firmly rejected the agreement, objecting that the planned corridor disregards Greek islands such as Crete, Karpathos and Rhodes, which Greece says possess a comprehensive exclusive economic zone. The European Union has backed Greece's position, describing the Turkish-Libyan agreement as 'null and void' and stating that it violates the sovereign rights of third states and is not consistent with the Law of the Sea.

Turkey had originally agreed to the maritime corridor with Libya's UN-recognized Government of National Accord in 2019. The renewed deal is likely to exacerbate tensions between Turkey and other countries in the eastern Mediterranean, including Egypt and Israel, over sea boundaries and energy rights.

How it is being reported

• Turkey's new deal on Mediterranean maritime boundaries with Libya is exacerbating issues with Greece and the EUTurkey and Libya plan to redraw maritime boundaries in the Mediterranean as part of a new economic corridor. This has sparked strong protests from Greece, and has also drawn the European Union into the conflict.DW News · 24 Oct, 15:09
• How the Turkiye-Libya deal is reshaping the MediterraneanHow the Turkiye-Libya deal is reshaping the MediterraneanAl Jazeera · 22 Oct, 20:35

In this story: Turkey · Libya · Greece · European Union · Crete · Cyprus

This summary was written by AI from the headlines and standfirsts above, and states as fact only what at least two outlets report. How we use AI · Report a problem · Corrections log