Eastern Libya’s House of Representatives has approved the maritime agreement with Turkey in a move that will reshape Libya’s political future and the balance of power in the Eastern Mediterranean, while creating new opportunities for political and military unification within Libya.
However, Egypt, Israel, Greece and Cyprus have rejected the Libyan approval of maritime deal with Turkey. The Libyan-Turkey agreement defines maritime jurisdiction areas between the two countries in the Mediterranean, where major natural gas discoveries in recent years have fueled competing claims to offshore waters.
For years, Turkey and the Libyan National Army (LNA) led by Marshal Khalifa Haftar have been caught in an increasingly uncomfortable position. Once bitter enemies, the two have gradually come to recognize that they may be each other’s most valuable strategic partners in Libya.
Now, Libya’s House of Representatives (HoR), the eastern-based parliament aligned with Khalifa Hafter, has approved the controversial maritime demarcation agreement with Turkey, marking a major development in relations between Ankara and eastern Libya.
The decision comes amid a wider political realignment in eastern Libya, where Saddam Haftar is moving to consolidate support for the American-backed political initiative and the 4+4 agreement, while dismantling obstacles that have complicated the LNA’s pursuit of a unified Libyan state.
The endorsement by Libya’s Eastern parliament of maritime arrangements with Ankara removes one of the principal obstacles to a strategic partnership between Turkey and the LNA.
According to press reports, Turkey has trained LNA battalions, provided capacity-building programs for officers, supported drone training and supplied military equipment. Commercial relations have expanded rapidly.
A significant proportion of recent Turkish contracts in Libya have been concentrated in the east, while major Turkish companies have moved beyond reconstruction projects towards establishing industrial partnerships and factories in Benghazi.
At the political level, a particularly close relationship has reportedly developed between Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Saddam Haftar, whom Ankara increasingly regards as a reliable and credible interlocutor.
Turkey has spent years supporting successive western Libyan authorities that have struggled to establish effective control over Tripoli, let alone the rest of the country. The Government of National Unity (GNU) remains dependent on fragmented armed coalitions, many of which are increasingly divided among themselves.
The LNA, meanwhile, has consolidated its authority across eastern and southern Libya but remains constrained by the limitations of its traditional regional partnerships.