Benghazi vote

Libya's House of Representatives, the parliament sitting in the east of the country, voted on Tuesday, 20 October 2026, to ratify a maritime delimitation memorandum that Turkey signed in November 2019 with the Government of National Accord in Tripoli. The vote was unanimous. In the same session lawmakers repealed two resolutions passed in 2020, one rejecting agreements with Turkey and the other cutting political ties with Ankara, according to parliamentary spokesman Abdullah Bliheg. The memorandum sets out maritime jurisdiction areas between Libya and Turkey in the eastern Mediterranean, where large gas discoveries in recent years have fuelled competing claims.

The chamber is aligned with the eastern commander Khalifa Haftar. When the memorandum was signed, Turkey had backed the Tripoli government against Haftar's forces, and parliament opposed the accords at that time. Reports say Saddam Haftar, Khalifa Haftar's son, helped make the reversal possible, and that Aguila Saleh, the former House speaker and one of the deal's firmest opponents, left his post in early October. Saddam Haftar said in a statement that the decisions marked a step toward overcoming disputes of the past, and he described Turkey as a significant regional power.

Greece, Cyprus and the EU respond

Greece's Foreign Ministry rejected the vote and said it did not alter the memorandum's illegal, invalid and groundless character. The ministry argued that Turkey and Libya have no opposite or adjacent coasts that could provide a legal basis for drawing maritime zones, and that the deal disregards Greek islands lying between the two coastlines, including Crete. In its statement, the ministry said:

“Geography and the international law of the sea cannot be changed by unilateral, legally unfounded parliamentary decisions.”

Athens said it had briefed its partners and allies, urged Libya to avoid steps that could destabilise the region, and would take all appropriate measures to safeguard its sovereign rights. Cyprus condemned the vote and called the memorandum illegal, null and void.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa issued a joint statement declaring the agreement null and void. They reaffirmed the bloc's solidarity with Greece and Cyprus and its opposition to any external interference in Libya. The statement referred to the EU position on the matter set out by the European Council in 2019.

Turkey and Libya's rival governments

Turkey's Foreign Ministry welcomed the ratification in a statement, describing the memorandum as based on international law and equity, and protecting the mutual rights and interests of both countries. Ankara said it would keep working with all its partners to secure safety, stability and peace in the Mediterranean basin.

The Tripoli-based government of Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, which the UN recognises, called the vote a positive development for relations with Turkey. Its Foreign Ministry said cooperation would proceed in line with the relevant rules and principles of international law. Libya has been divided since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, and the eastern government, led in practice by Khalifa Haftar and based in Benghazi, is the rival to Dbeibah's administration.

Energy and the cable dispute

Bloomberg reported that Turkey moved closer to expanding energy exploration in the eastern Mediterranean after Libya's second government endorsed maritime boundaries that Greece and Cyprus dispute. Greece is preparing to resume seabed surveys in November 2026 for the Great Sea Interconnector, an EU-backed undersea power cable linking Greece and Cyprus. Turkey has invoked the Libya memorandum to claim that the cable route crosses waters it considers its own. In July 2024, Turkish warships shadowed a survey vessel near the Greek island of Kasos, which stalled the work.

With Libyan lawmakers now behind the deal, Ankara has fresh grounds to press its claims, and the dispute is set to move from diplomacy to the sea when the survey ship returns.