ANKARA — Turkey confirmed Thursday that Libya’s eastern-based parliament is reviewing a controversial maritime border agreement Ankara signed in 2019 with the internationally recognized, Tripoli-based government — a deal long rejected by the rival eastern camp but now back in focus amid improving ties between Ankara and forces aligned with General Khalifa Hifter.

The agreement, struck between Turkey and Libya’s UN-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA), was immediately rejected by the country’s eastern bloc, aligned with Hifter, as well as by Greece and Egypt, which claimed it encroached on their maritime boundaries. Libya’s Tobruk-based House of Representatives — politically allied with Hifter — has now begun reconsidering the deal and may move to ratify it, according to recent reports in Greek media.

“We welcome the fact that Hifter's side is also reviewing it, and we are closely following the developments,” a high-level Turkish Defense Ministry official told journalists on Thursday, speaking on condition of customary anonymity. 

Countering Cairo's and Athens’ claims of encroachment on their maritime zones, the official stated, "Libya’s rights have been fully protected [by the agreement], in contrast to the maximalist claims of other countries.”