EU Commission report deems Turkey-Libya memorandum null and void; Ankara rejects it

What the Commission report says

The European Commission published its annual report on Turkey's accession path on Wednesday, 4 November 2026, as part of the EU's 2026 enlargement package. The text calls the 2019 Turkey-Libya memorandum on maritime jurisdiction "null and void" and says it violates the sovereign rights of third states and does not comply with the Law of the Sea. Libya's House of Representatives, which sits in Benghazi, ratified the memorandum in early October 2026, a step the report cites as reviving Turkish claims in the eastern Mediterranean. The report also refers to a joint statement by the President of the European Council and the President of the Commission, which restates the EU position that the memorandum cannot produce legal effects for third states.

The sequence of dates runs from the early October ratification to the report and Ankara's reply on the same day.

Casus belli, overflights and the Cyprus cable

The report says the casus belli that the Turkish National Assembly has approved since 1995 remains in force, and would apply if Greece exercised its right to extend its territorial waters to 12 nautical miles. It also criticizes Turkish demands for the demilitarization of Greek islands, the inclusion of the "Blue Homeland" doctrine in Turkish school textbooks and the practice of military overflights. On the Greece-Cyprus electricity interconnector, the Commission says Turkey continued to obstruct survey work, despite the project's status as a Project of Common Interest under the TEN-E regulation. The report also records Ankara's strong objections to Greek defence choices, including Patriot systems on Karpathos and F-16 aircraft deployed to Cyprus, as well as its objections to Greek maritime spatial planning. On Cyprus, the Commission rejects Turkish rhetoric about a "two-state" solution, demands the reversal of unilateral faits accomplis in the fenced-off city of Varosha and condemns new agreements Ankara signs with the unrecognised entity in northern Cyprus.

Ankara's reply

Turkey's foreign ministry responded in statement No. 212, issued on the same day, hours after the report was published. The ministry describes the report as biased and far from objective, and rejects its remarks on political criteria, the judiciary and fundamental rights.

“We reject the unfounded claims included in the report, particularly those concerning political criteria, justice and fundamental rights.”

On the memorandum, the ministry says the references to it lack any legal basis, and it adds that the Commission's position on it carries no weight.

“The references to the Turkey-Libya memorandum have no validity whatsoever.”

The ministry accuses some EU officials of applying "double standards" and says the EU adopts Greek and Greek Cypriot positions unconditionally, which it calls maximalist and contrary to international law. It adds that the EU cannot help a Cyprus settlement while it adopts the Greek Cypriot side's positions without conditions.

Alignment and the accession path

The report puts Turkey's alignment with EU foreign policy at 4%, and says Turkey is the only candidate country where that alignment is rated as very low. Ankara nonetheless welcomed the report's remarks on Turkey's economic and monetary policy, its market economy and its role in connectivity, supply chains, defence and security. The ministry says it expects concrete steps on modernizing the Customs Union and is ready to advance relations on the basis of mutual trust, respect and justice. The Commission, for its part, notes that Turkey has deepened cooperation with the Union on trade, migration, regional security and connectivity. It urges Ankara to agree to referral of disputes to the International Court of Justice in The Hague if necessary, and identifies the occupied territories in Cyprus as a main obstacle to better relations and to unfreezing accession talks.