Cyprus condemns the approval of the Turkish–Libyan memorandum: “illegal, null and void” and a violation of the rights of third states

The Republic of Cyprus condemns the decision of Libya’s House of Representatives to approve the 2019 Turkish–Libyan memorandum on the delimitation of maritime zones, according to a Foreign Ministry statement issued on Tuesday, October 20, at 19:21 Cyprus time. “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cyprus condemns the decision of the Libyan House of Representatives to approve the illegal Turkish–Libyan ‘memorandum of understanding’ of 2019,” Nicosia says, putting the word memorandum in quotation marks.

“The ‘memorandum’ in question violates the sovereign rights of third states and runs counter to the recognised principles of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and of customary international law regarding the rights of islands to maritime zones, including the Exclusive Economic Zone and the continental shelf,” the statement continues. “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs therefore continues to consider the ‘memorandum’ illegal, null and void, producing no legal effects whatsoever with regard to third states.”

The rights of islands

The reference to the rights of islands to an EEZ and continental shelf is the central point of the Cypriot position. The Turkish–Libyan memorandum ignores Crete, while Turkey more broadly denies that islands have full maritime entitlement, a position that directly affects Cyprus. Nicosia has concluded EEZ delimitation agreements with Egypt, Lebanon and Israel, which Ankara does not recognise. In 2011 Turkey also signed a separate continental shelf agreement with the breakaway entity in the part of the island it has occupied since its 1974 invasion, which the Republic of Cyprus likewise considers illegal and void.

Nicosia’s wording matches the position the European Council adopted in December 2019, that the memorandum “violates the sovereign rights of third States, does not comply with the Law of the Sea and cannot produce any legal consequences for third States”. Earlier the same day the Greek Foreign Ministry had described the memorandum “spurious, null and void”, and George Gerapetritis and Constantinos Kombos spoke by phone about the developments.

The House of Representatives in Benghazi unanimously approved the memorandum and repealed the 2020 decisions with which it had rejected it, two weeks after the removal of Aguila Saleh as its speaker. For the first time, both rival centres of power in Libya now support the agreement with Ankara.