What's at stake as Libya's eastern parliament approves Turkey maritime deal

ANKARA — The approval of a long-disputed maritime deal with Turkey by Libya's eastern-based parliament marks a major geopolitical victory for Ankara, while also reflecting efforts by Saddam Hifter, the deputy commander of Libya's eastern-based armed forces, to secure Turkish backing for his presidential ambitions, analysts say.

The vote, held on Tuesday, saw lawmakers unanimously approve the agreement Turkey signed with Libya's Tripoli-based government in 2019.

“The House of Representatives voted unanimously to adopt the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Government of National Accord and the Government of the Republic of Turkey regarding the delimitation of maritime jurisdiction areas in the Mediterranean Sea,” Abdullah Bliheg, spokesperson for Libya's House of Representatives, wrote on X.

Libya remains divided between the government in Tripoli and a rival eastern administration under the de facto control of Khalifa Hifter, commander of the eastern-based Libyan National Army. The agreement, struck between Turkey and Libya's then-UN-recognized Government of National Accord, was initially rejected by its eastern rivals. In 2020, Libya's eastern-based House of Representatives passed a resolution rejecting the agreement as well as severing all ties with Ankara. 

“The House of Representatives also voted unanimously to repeal” the 2020 resolution, Bliheg said Tuesday.

Turkey became involved in the Libyan conflict in favor of Tripoli-based forces in 2019 during the country's civil war, which began in 2014 following the ouster of longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi in a NATO-backed popular uprising in 2011. The conflict pitted Tripoli-based forces against the Libyan National Army, which was backed by the United Arab Emirates, Russia and Egypt.

Emerging as one of the foreign powers with a large military footprint in Libya, Ankara then leveraged its close ties with the Tripoli-based government to sign the maritime delimitation agreement. Under the deal, Turkey and Libya established a maritime boundary southeast of the Greek island of Crete, based on a diagonal alignment between Turkey's southwestern Mediterranean coast and Libya's northeastern coastline.

After the UN-brokered ceasefire in 2020, which largely ended clashes between the two sides, Ankara started courting eastern-based authorities in a bid to preserve its strategic and economic interests.

Leadership shake-up in parliament

Following numerous meetings between Turkish officials and members of the Hifter family, Libya's eastern-based parliament began reviewing the agreement in June 2025 for potential ratification.

Yet ratification did not come until lawmakers replaced the Libyan parliament's speaker of 12 years, Aguila Saleh, in a vote on Oct. 6. Despite the rapprochement between Ankara and the eastern authorities, Saleh was a staunch opponent of the maritime agreement, which he described as “legally invalid” in December 2025.

Al-Salhin Abdelnabi al-Obeidi, who replaced Saleh, had chaired the Libyan-Turkish Parliamentary Friendship Committee before becoming speaker.

According to Claudia Gazzini, the International Crisis Group's senior analyst for Libya, the ratification, which was expected following Saleh's replacement, is partly driven by Saddam Hifter's political ambitions.

“It was clear that Saddam Hifter wanted the House of Representatives to ratify the agreement with Turkey. He told them so,” she told Al-Monitor. 

The ratification coincided with a visit to Libya by Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin as Ankara expands its outreach to Libyan officials. Kalin, who met with Government of National Unity Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah and his national security adviser Ibrahim Dbeibah on Tuesday, is expected to travel to Benghazi following his meetings in Tripoli.

Turkey's outreach comes amid US-led efforts to unify Libya's rival sides under a power-sharing arrangement. Under the widely reported US proposal, Tripoli-based Dbeibah or a member of his family would retain the premiership, while Khalifa Hifter or his son Saddam would head a new presidential or executive council. "Saddam hopes to get Turkish support for his bid for the presidency,” Gazzini added. 

Blow to Hifters' balancing act

While Turkey has already notified the United Nations of the maritime boundaries established under the agreement, ratification by the eastern-based parliament represents broader support for the deal from both sides of Libya's political divide. 

Jalel Harchaoui, a Libya expert affiliated with the London-based Royal United Services Institute, described the ratification in an X post as “a truly strategic geopolitical victory for Turkey.” 

The ratification “brings Libya as a whole in line with Turkey's interpretation of the law of the sea,” Harchaoui later told Al-Monitor. 

According to the analyst, Tuesday's ratification could also make it difficult for members of the Hifter family to maintain their balancing act between Ankara and other regional countries.

Despite increasing cooperation with Turkey, “Until now, a fast-rising commander such as Saddam Hifter could still depict himself as a partner to Greece, Israel, Cyprus and the United Arab Emirates,” said Harchaoui. “Today's parliamentary ratification marks a turning point.” 

The agreement is strongly opposed by Egypt, Greece and Cyprus, which argue that it encroaches on their own areas of maritime jurisdiction. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis publicly urged the eastern Libyan authorities not to ratify the agreement during their meetings with members of the Hifter family. Gerapetritis most recently met with Saddam Hifter in March this year.

Egypt, meanwhile, filed a formal diplomatic objection to the agreement with the United Nations in September 2025, arguing that it infringed on Cairo's maritime rights in the Mediterranean Sea.

“Egypt, Israel, Greece and Cyprus are unhappy but it is not certain they will be able to react in a tangible way,” Harchaoui added.