Turkey-Libya maritime pact could set precedent against Cyprus, legal expert warns

Nicosia, Cyprus. International law expert Maria Gavouneli has warned that Turkey is leveraging its maritime pact with Libya to put diplomatic pressure on both Greece and Cyprus. She said the agreement could also create a precedent for future challenges to the Republic of Cyprus’ maritime rights.

Maritime boundary disregards Greek islands

Eastern Libya’s parliament approved the disputed maritime memorandum with Turkey earlier this week. The agreement dates from 2019.

In comments to the Cyprus Mail, Gavouneli, a professor of international law and board member of the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP), said the memorandum fundamentally ignored eastern Mediterranean geography and Greek islands’ rights.

She identified its principal legal weakness as the boundary Turkey and Libya drew between their coastlines without accounting for the Greek islands situated between them. In effect, she explained, the two countries treated the African coastline and that of Asia Minor as facing one another.

Concern over a precedent for Cyprus

Gavouneli said the agreement had no direct effect on the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of Cyprus, but cautioned against underestimating its broader consequences, especially because Ankara does not recognise the Republic of Cyprus.

Asked whether the memorandum could strengthen Turkish claims in other parts of the eastern Mediterranean, she separated its immediate geographical reach from its potential use as a precedent. Geographically, she said, it could not simply be extended another block; nevertheless, concluding an agreement and using it to advance claims could establish a model for further action. That prospect, she explained, accounted for the strength of the response.

She said Greece would not accept losing its southern maritime areas and regarded even contemplating such an outcome as absurd.

Gavouneli warned that Turkey would pursue the same approach towards the Republic of Cyprus, whose existence it already refuses to recognise. She suggested Ankara was close to treating Cyprus as absent from the map, just as, in her assessment, it does not recognise Crete.