Politics

To Tobruk and back: Greeks tread water over Med delineation

Türkiye’s 2019 agreement with Tripoli on maritime boundaries and exclusive economic zones in the Mediterranean irked Athens at the time. The idea that Tobruk may ratify it has set off Greek alarms.

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An oil and gas platform off the coast of Libya on February 25, 2022. Türkiye and Greece are at loggerheads over a Turkish-Libyan agreement on maritime boundaries in the Mediterranean Sea.

To Tobruk and back: Greeks tread water over Med delineation

Omer Onhon

last update on 21 Jul 2025

After the downfall of Libya’s long-time ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, the nation drifted into a civil war between the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA), in the west, and the Tobruk-based Libyan National Army (LNA) and the House of Representatives in the east. Türkiye stood with Tripoli, saving the GNA from collapse under attack from the LNA, which also had foreign support.

A ceasefire and a process of reconciliation followed. The reconciliation has not yet led to the hoped-for results—Libya is still divided between the two power bases in the east and the west—but the ceasefire held. Yet given that the countries’ two main actors remained reliant on external support (both military and diplomatic), that ceasefire always looked shaky, disagreements between foreign sponsors causing palpitations.

Recently, tensions involving Türkiye, Greece, Egypt, and the European Union have resurfaced in the Eastern Mediterranean over the maritime agreement signed between Tripoli and Ankara in 2019. The trigger for the furore was the possibility that Tobruk may ratify it, raising alarm bells in Athens and elsewhere.

Marking out zones

The agreement delineates maritime boundaries between Libya and Türkiye, drawing the western border of Türkiye’s continental shelf and exclusive economic zone (EEZ). In the Eastern Mediterranean, there are no borders defined by international law; instead, they are drawn by agreements, with countries typically making compromises. Other maritime agreements have been signed between Egypt, Greece, Cyprus and Israel. Problems arise when the areas and boundaries defined in different agreements overlap.

Greece, Cyprus, Egypt, and the House of Representatives in Tobruk declared the Tripoli-Ankara 2019 agreement illegitimate, but while Türkiye continues to enjoy strong ties with Tripoli, it has also recently been improving its relations with Tobruk and its leader Khalifa Haftar, whose son Saddam commands the LNA’s land forces. Saddam, together with other commanders and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Akile Salih, have even made official visits to Ankara.

While Türkiye still enjoys strong ties with Tripoli, it has also recently been improving its relations with Tobruk and its leader Khalifa Haftar

The end of the deep political crisis between Türkiye and Egypt, as well as other actors such as the United Arab Emirates, has also been an important factor in the improvement of relations between Tobruk and Ankara. Greece still makes claims over the implications of the 2019 agreement that Türkiye considers void. Later extensions of the initial agreement give Türkiye rights to explore for oil and gas in Libyan territorial waters.

The UN and the EU

Following Greek objections, Libya submitted a note verbale to the UN, in May of this year, which was officially published by the UN on 1 July. The note, which includes a map outlining the "outer limits of the continental shelf in the Mediterranean Sea," says the 2019 agreement with Türkiye constitutes "an equitable solution reached based on international law". It asserts that "neither Greece nor Egypt is entitled to sovereign rights in the maritime areas delimited between Libya and Türkiye in accordance with international law".

AFP — Libyan military commander Khalifa Haftar at a conference in the city of Sabha, southern Libya, on September 5, 2024. Türkiye and Haftar are enjoying warming relations.

Libya submitted another note to the UN on 20 June, accusing Greece of violating Libya's rights by leasing two offshore blocks south-west of Crete to ExxonMobil in an area covered by the 2019 agreement. On 26 June, a European Council meeting discussed the maritime agreement, as well as illegal migration flows from Libya to the EU, after Greece, Cyprus, and Italy asked that migration be included.

EU leaders, concerned about the number of boats arriving illegally from Libya, said the 2019 Türkiye-Libya maritime agreement violates sovereign rights of third states, does not comply with maritime law, and cannot have legal consequences for third states. The Turkish Foreign Ministry Spokesman Öncü Keçeli dismissed the Council's conclusions, adding that the agreement was entirely legitimate under international law.

The Libyan Parliament has also derided the Council's conclusions. The legitimacy of international agreements signed by Libya falls solely within the authority of its constitutional bodies, it said, adding that external efforts to dictate Libya's foreign relations would be rejected.

Greek diplomacy

Greece is concerned about what it regards as its legitimate rights being violated, and claims that the 2019 agreement ignores the presence of the Greek island of Crete. Greek Foreign Minister Gerapetritis, who has twice visited Libya, called the 2019 Turkish-Libya agreement "unsubstantiated, invalid, and against international law." Greece's priority now is to avoid its ratification by the House of Representatives.

EU leaders, concerned about migration from Libya, said the 2019 Türkiye-Libya maritime agreement violates sovereign rights of third states

Athens wants to sign its own EEZ agreement with Libya, so that it can also challenge the 2019 accord if needed, so Gerapetritis visited Benghazi on 6 June to meet Haftar at the LNA headquarters in the Al Rajma area of the eastern Libyan city. This week, Gerapetritis returned to Libya, this time to Tripoli, meeting Mohammed Al-Menfi, chairman of the Presidential Council, and Prime Minister Hamid Dbeibeh.

AFP — The Libyan Coast Guard rescues 147 illegal migrants off the Libyan coast west of the capital, Tripoli, on June 27, 2017. The EU is concerned about migration from Libya.

Both sides described the talks as productive, as they explored ways to support and strengthen joint cooperation, whether economic, commercial, or cultural fields, and addressing issues such as migration and maritime border delimitation. According to sources, however, the Greek proposal to sign a maritime agreement made no progress.

Wider geopolitics

Interestingly, on 8 July, just a week before Gerapetritis was due in Tripoli, authorities in eastern Libya expelled an EU delegation who were there on an official visit. The delegation included Greek Migration Minister Thanos Plevris, other ministers from Italy and Malta, and the EU's commissioner for home affairs and migration.

The recent fevered Greek maritime diplomacy has extended to Egypt, which maintains close ties with Haftar and Tobruk. Gerapetritis met his Egyptian counterpart, Badr Abdelatty, in Cairo on 4 June, asking the Egyptians to convince Haftar not to ratify the 2019 agreement.

Although Egypt may have issues with the 2019 delineation, it is highly unlikely to want to cause fresh tension in the Mediterranean, because Egypt-Türkiye relations are not so bad that they cannot resolve problems diplomatically.

Greek diplomacy has focused on Brussels, hoping that the bloc will put pressure on its opponents (a familiar Greek strategy). Yet none of this is likely to stop the flow of events. The trend is towards greater cooperation between Libyans (both east and west) and Türkiye. A disgruntled Athens is falling back on its backstop: using its leverage in Brussels to hold Türkiye-EU relations hostage.

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