Turkey Hails Libya Maritime Deal and Urges Greece to ‘Seize the Moment’ on Eastern Med Disputes
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan says Libya’s approval of a 2019 maritime boundary memorandum with Ankara is a diplomatic success and insists the deal is legally and politically legitimate, while pressing Greece to work with President Erdogan on wider disputes.
Turkey is hardening its stance on contested sea boundaries in the Eastern Mediterranean, defending a maritime pact with Libya and challenging Greece and Cyprus over energy and connectivity.
Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has welcomed Libya’s approval of a 2019 maritime boundary memorandum with Ankara, describing it as a diplomatic success for Turkish foreign policy. The agreement, which links Turkey’s southern coast to Libya’s northwest by sea, has long been opposed by Greece, Cyprus, Egypt and the European Union.
Fidan argues the deal is legally and politically sound and says there is no need to debate it. He also says that, from Ankara’s perspective, the memorandum was technically already in force when it was signed in 2019, and that Libya’s latest step aligns paperwork with that view.
The Turkish minister has coupled this stance with pressure on Cyprus and Greece over energy links. On Southern Cyprus, he relayed a message he said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan delivered to Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in New York: that buying electricity from Turkey, just 70 miles away, would be cheaper than transporting it from 2,000 kilometers away using more than €2 billion in European funds. Fidan said Turkey could provide water, electricity and natural gas from the mainland.
On Greece, Fidan has commented on a 1995 declaration by the Turkish Grand National Assembly that Athens often describes as a “casus belli,” or cause for war, over potential Greek territorial‑waters moves. He says Turkey has not defined the declaration as a casus belli, calling it a preventive political signal rather than a law and arguing that it has helped preserve peace.
Fidan has also said Greek governments know how to approach disputes with Turkey but struggle with the domestic political costs. He described anti‑Turkey rhetoric as a regular feature of Greek politics and advised Athens to work with Erdogan while he still holds the political legitimacy needed to push through a settlement.
These overlapping messages underline how maritime law, energy projects and domestic politics are tightly linked in the Eastern Mediterranean. The Turkey–Libya memorandum shapes who can license offshore exploration and how planned pipelines and power links might be routed.
Developments to watch include any Turkish or Libyan moves to implement exploration or drilling rights based on the memorandum, legal steps by Greece, Cyprus or the EU in international forums, and whether Ankara and Athens schedule substantive talks. Changes in Cyprus’s approach to sourcing electricity or gas under Turkish or European pressure would also indicate how far Turkey’s connectivity proposals are gaining ground.
Sources
- OSINT