Egypt Rejects Libya-Turkey Maritime Deal That Affects Greek and Regional Waters
Egypt has denounced Libya’s maritime deal with Turkey, saying it violates the outer limits of its territorial waters—an issue that has been raised by Greece as well.
The Permanent Mission of Egypt to the United Nations, strongly protested and denounced the allegations contained in the corresponding communications of Libya on May 27 and June 20, 2025 regarding the outer limits of the Libyan continental shelf, as well as areas for hydrocarbon exploration and exploitation in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Egypt explicitly rejects the limits of the Libyan continental shelf, as declared and reflected on relevant maps because they overlap its western maritime boundary. Furthermore, it “denounces the maritime boundary claimed to the East, as it is located entirely within the Egyptian maritime zone, violating its sovereignty over its territorial waters (territorial zone) and its contiguous zone, as well as its sovereign rights in its Exclusive Economic Zone and its continental shelf.”
Egypt has declared it will defend its rights, which are founded on International Law and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. The verbale emphasizes that the Libyan positions “are incompatible with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and violate the provisions of International Law and relevant international practice.”
It reiterates the relevant Egyptian announcements and legislative acts, in particular Presidential Decree 595/2022 on the delimitation of the western maritime boundaries, as well as previous verbal communications (2019, 2023 and 2024).
Libyan protest against Greece’s international tender
Egypt’s statement makes a particular reference to the Libyan protest against Greece’s international tender for exploration south of the Peloponnese and Crete, refusing and rejecting to “recognize any claim to its EEZ and continental shelf, stressing that such claims do not take into account its inherent and inalienable sovereign rights” in the maritime areas extending from its baselines in the Mediterranean.
At the same time, Egypt rejects the memorandum of cooperation signed on June 25, 2025 between the Libyan National Oil Corporation and the Turkish Petroleum Corporation, which provides for geological and geophysical studies and seismic surveys in four maritime areas. As emphasized, the so-called “Area 4” overlaps with Egyptian borders. Therefore, Egypt rejects both the memorandum and any measures, actions, or legal consequences arising from it. It further rejects any action or activity within its maritime borders, based on this memorandum. Accordingly, it reiterates that it does not recognize the Turkish-Libyan memoranda of 2019 and 2022, describing them as “null and void.”
In closing, Egypt declares its willingness and commitment to cooperate and negotiate in good faith with neighboring states on the delimitation of maritime zones on the basis of International Law.
The Turkish-Libyan Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)
In 2019, Turkey and the then-Government of National Accord (GNA) of Libya signed a MoU that mapped out a vast sea area that disregards the existence and maritime rights of Greek islands, including Crete and Rhodes, effectively establishing a corridor between Turkey and Libya that affected part of Egypt’s continental shelf.
Greece, along with a great number of countries, views this agreement as a violation of international law, specifically the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which grants islands their own maritime zones.
In June, Turkish oil company TPAO and Libya’s National Oil Company signed a memorandum to conduct seismic surveys on four plots in the maritime area between Greece and Libya. The plots do not violate Greek territorial waters. However, in the map of intended surveys presented at the signing, the two countries are planning on further survey conduction within the Greek continental shelf.
PR Newswire
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