{"id":26481,"date":"2026-10-29T05:49:46","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T05:49:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/10\/29\/can-turkiyes-libya-breakthrough-reshape-eastern-mediterranean-diplomacy-al-jazeera\/"},"modified":"2026-10-29T05:49:46","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T05:49:46","slug":"can-turkiyes-libya-breakthrough-reshape-eastern-mediterranean-diplomacy-al-jazeera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/10\/29\/can-turkiyes-libya-breakthrough-reshape-eastern-mediterranean-diplomacy-al-jazeera\/","title":{"rendered":"Can Turkiye\u2019s Libya breakthrough reshape Eastern Mediterranean diplomacy? – Al Jazeera"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ankara wins backing from former adversaries in Libya for its maritime border agreement, but competing claims present new diplomatic tests.<\/em>
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Istanbul, Turkiye \u2013<\/strong> Once adversaries, Turkiye and the leadership of eastern Libya are now building closer political and military ties. Ankara has also repaired relations<\/a> with Egypt in the past few years after previous hostility, but a maritime dispute is testing how far those reconciliations can go.
On Wednesday, Turkiye\u2019s Ministry of National Defence renewed its offer to sign a maritime boundary agreement with Cairo, arguing that Egypt could gain more than 15,000sq km (5,790sq miles) of maritime jurisdiction \u2013 a figure that is Ankara\u2019s estimate \u2013 compared with a potential further agreement with Greece, with which Cairo signed a partial maritime deal in 2020.
The offer came eight days after Libya\u2019s eastern-based parliament in Tobruk reversed years of opposition and approved a maritime agreement<\/a> signed between its rival, the internationally recognised government based in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, and Turkiye in 2019.
The agreement delineates maritime jurisdiction areas claimed by Turkiye and Libya in the Mediterranean, but Greece, Cyprus and Egypt argued that it infringes on their sovereign rights while Turkiye maintains that it complies with international law.
A senior Turkish official told Al Jazeera that eastern Libya\u2019s leaders had come to recognise Ankara\u2019s intentions.
\u201cTurkiye is not there to use Libya for its own purposes,\u201d the official said.
\u201cFrom the very beginning, we have supported a policy of one Libya,\u201d the official added, stressing that the country\u2019s stability and resources should benefit all Libyans.<\/p>\n

Turkiye helped repel a 2019-2020 offensive on Tripoli by forces loyal to renegade military commander Khalifa Haftar, leader of the military forces of the eastern government. Ankara has since expanded its relations with the eastern camp while maintaining ties with Tripoli.
The senior official said Turkish security personnel based in Tripoli had remained in contact with eastern Libyan forces even during the confrontation.
\u201cThere has actually been no change in our policy. Only the results it has produced have changed,\u201d the official said.
The diplomatic outreach has been accompanied by military and intelligence contacts.
In May, Defence Minister Yasar Guler met Saddam Haftar, Khalifa Haftar\u2019s son, and Abdulsalam al-Zoubi, a senior defence official in the Tripoli-based government.
Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin also met Saddam Haftar in Benghazi on June 23. Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan followed in August, meeting both Khalifa and Saddam Haftar.
A change in Libya\u2019s eastern parliamentary leadership also preceded the maritime vote. On October 6, lawmakers replaced Aguila Saleh as parliament speaker with Al-Salhin Abdelnabi al-Obeidi, who previously chaired the Libyan-Turkish parliamentary friendship committee.
Galip Dalay, a senior research fellow at Chatham House, sees Ankara\u2019s engagement with its former adversaries as a strategic gain.
\u201cThis is not merely a pragmatic or tactical gain. It is a strategic gain for Turkiye,\u201d he told Al Jazeera.
Dalay argued that closer relations with both Libyan camps make it harder to establish Eastern Mediterranean energy and security arrangements that exclude Turkiye.<\/p>\n

The rapprochement also reflects political calculations within the Haftar camp.
Tarek Megerisi, a visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, believes Saddam Haftar hopes Ankara\u2019s influence could strengthen his own political prospects with many believing that he eventually wants to lead Libya.
The senior Turkish official said Ankara had made no specific political commitments to eastern Libyan officials beyond general principles and cooperation that would also benefit Libya.
Representatives of both Libyan camps held talks in Ankara on Friday about unifying their military structures, according to Libyan media reports. Differences over political oversight remain unresolved, and no final agreement has been announced.
But Anas El Gomati, director of the Sadeq Institute, cautioned that an understanding between Libya\u2019s rival leaders would not necessarily produce an inclusive political settlement.
\u201cAn elite bargain between two camps can leave out everyone beyond them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Libyan eastern parliament\u2019s reversal has also complicated Egypt\u2019s position. Cairo has traditionally supported the eastern leadership but opposes the maritime agreement it has now endorsed.
On October 22, Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis announced discussions with Egypt on extending their partial 2020 maritime delimitation agreement eastwards towards Cyprus.
Four days later, Egypt joined Greece, Cyprus, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and the European Union in a statement at the United Nations rejecting the Turkiye-Libya accord.
Yet Cairo and Ankara have continued rebuilding their relationship.
Turkiye\u2019s land forces commander, General Metin Tokel, arrived in Egypt on Monday for an official visit. The Turkish Defence Ministry has also announced a joint naval exercise in Alexandria from November 4 to 9.
The senior Turkish official told Al Jazeera that Ankara remained open to cooperation on maritime boundaries and energy but would defend what it considers its rights.
\u201cJust as other countries say they will not give up the rights they recognise as their own, the same applies to Turkiye,\u201d the official said.
Fidan has acknowledged Egypt\u2019s concerns and discussed the possibility of cooperation with Italy. The official clarified, however, that no formal four-country negotiating mechanism between Turkiye, Libya, Italy and Egypt has been established.
El Gomati believes Cairo\u2019s ability to influence decisions in eastern Libya has diminished.
\u201cEgypt still has influence, but it no longer has a veto,\u201d he said.
Megerisi, meanwhile, argued that Turkiye\u2019s relationship with Egypt has become too important to sacrifice over the maritime dispute. He sees room for accommodation, potentially involving Italy\u2019s energy company Eni, which has interests in Egypt and Libya.<\/p>\n

Greece maintains that the maritime agreement disregards the rights of its islands, including Crete. Turkiye rejects those claims, arguing that islands should not automatically receive the same weight as mainland coastlines when mapping out maritime boundaries and exclusive economic zones.
Megerisi said the eastern Libyan parliament\u2019s approval strengthens the agreement\u2019s domestic legal footing but does little to resolve the wider dispute between the countries of the Eastern Mediterranean.
\u201cI think both sides are maximalist,\u201d he said.
The parliamentary vote gives Ankara greater political leverage, but it does not settle competing maritime claims or clear the way for offshore energy exploration.
Ankara now wants to build on its gains in Libya and improving ties with Egypt to strengthen its position in the Eastern Mediterranean. Its aim is to develop new partnerships and regional cooperation rather than remain outside arrangements shaped largely by Greece, Cyprus and Israel.
But that will require finding common ground with countries that continue to challenge Turkiye\u2019s maritime claims.
The senior Turkish official said Ankara\u2019s improved relationship with Cairo had opened the door to discussing those differences directly.
\u201cWe can now discuss every issue with Egypt, and we will discuss this one too,\u201d the official said. \u201cWe do not have to seek the approval or consent of unrelated third countries.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Ankara wins backing from former adversaries in Libya for its maritime border agreement, but competing claims present new diplomatic tests.SaveShareIstanbul, Turkiye \u2013 Once adversaries, Turkiye and the leadership of eastern Libya are now building closer political and military ties. Ankara has also repaired relations with Egypt in the past few years after previous hostility, but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26482,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26481"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26481\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}