Breaking: Libya’s House of Representatives unanimously approves the illegal Turkish–Libyan memorandum – a blow for Greece after Aguila Saleh’s removal

Libya’s House of Representatives on Tuesday, October 20, voted unanimously to approve the 2019 maritime delimitation memorandum between Turkey and Libya, which Greece considers illegal and void. The House, which sits in Benghazi, also cancelled its Decision No. 1 of 2020, by which it had rejected ratification of the two memoranda signed by Libya and Turkey, and Decision No. 6 of 2020, which called for severing political relations with Ankara, according to the House’s official announcement, issued after a closed-door session. It is a complete reversal of the position eastern Libya held for six years.

Ankara celebrated at once. Çağrı Erhan, chief adviser to the Turkish president on foreign policy and security, wrote on X: “The Libyan House of Representatives approved the Turkey–Libya Memorandum of Understanding on maritime jurisdiction areas. Congratulations to our Blue Homeland.” The reference to the “Blue Homeland” shows how the Turkish leadership treats the deal.

After Aguila Saleh’s removal

The development confirms what we wrote on October 13, when Aguila Saleh was removed as speaker of the House. Saleh had been the institutional barrier that for years kept the memorandum from coming up for ratification. His successor, the Tobruk-based member Al-Salhin Abdulnabi al-Ubaidi, had chaired the parliamentary Libyan–Turkish friendship committee. Two weeks after the new leadership was elected, the memorandum was approved unanimously.

Behind the shift is the redistribution of power in the east, where Saddam Haftar, son of Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, is consolidating control and the Haftar family has moved closer to Ankara in recent years. As recently as December 2025 Saleh had described the memorandum as void, while Greek Parliament Speaker Nikitas Kaklamanis had asked him to have it cancelled.

The Greek position

The memorandum, signed in November 2019, draws a maritime zone between the Turkish and Libyan coasts that ignores Crete and other Greek islands. Athens maintains that the islands are entitled to full maritime zones under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (see our UNCLOS explainer), that the memorandum cannot produce effects against third states, and that it is therefore null and void, a position shared by the European Union. Greece is coordinating with Cairo, as in the recent third round of Greece–Egypt consultations on Libya.