Israel’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday condemned Libya’s eastern-based parliament, the House of Representatives, for ratifying a maritime jurisdiction memorandum with Turkey. The parliament ratified the deal on Tuesday.
“Israel strongly condemns the decision of the Libyan House of Representatives to ratify the Maritime Jurisdiction Memorandum between Turkey and Libya. This agreement infringes upon the sovereign rights of our close allies in the region. Regretfully, once again, we see Turkey working to destabilize the eastern Mediterranean region,” the ministry wrote on X.
Greece, Cyprus and the European Union also condemned the move. Athens argues that Turkey and Libya share no maritime boundary, and therefore have no legal basis for delimiting maritime zones between them.
Libya is split between rival administrations in the west and the east. The House of Representatives, Libya’s internationally recognized legislature, sits in Benghazi and Tobruk and is aligned with Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, whose Libyan National Army controls the east.
Turkey first reached the maritime deal, which covers claims in the eastern Mediterranean, in 2019 with Libya’s Government of National Accord, which then governed from Tripoli. Ankara was a major backer of the Tripoli government and intervened militarily on its behalf. Authorities in eastern Libya rejected the agreement, as did Egypt and Greece.
Over the past few years, however, Turkey has rebuilt ties with Haftar, particularly his son Saddam. According to Middle East Eye, Ankara negotiated with Haftar for months. Earlier this month, Haftar ousted longtime Speaker Aguila Saleh, who had blocked ratification for years, and replaced him with Al-Salhin Abdelnabi al-Obeidi.
The parliament voted unanimously to revoke two of its 2020 decisions: one rejecting the maritime and security memorandums signed between Turkey and the Government of National Accord, and another cutting political relations with Ankara. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan later called both Saddam Haftar and Tripoli-based Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah to thank them.
Two eastern lawmakers told Reuters that the parliament backed the deal for its strategic economic, political and national security advantages. Lawmaker Tarek al-Jeroushi said the agreement would make Libya a stronger political, military and economic partner for the major powers. “Some countries may be upset by this agreement, but what matters to us is our national interest,” he said. Lawmaker Aisha al-Tabalqi said the agreement passed after specialized committees laid out its provisions in full.
